The young spaniard rejoined Barcelona after failing to break-up arguably the finest defensive partnership in Europe at Manchester United
A Barcelona-born Barça fan, Pique rose through the youth ranks at the Camp Nou, where his grandfather was once vice-president of the club. There was anger in Catalonia when Manchester United signed the 17-year-old Pique in 2004, but the player said that he had more chance of breaking into United’s first team than Barça’s. He wasn’t entirely correct.
After just three United appearances, Pique was loaned to Zaragoza for the 2006-07 season, where he was outstanding. United turned down a €10 million bid from Zaragoza to make the deal permanent, with Sir Alex Ferguson saying that the Catalan had a big future in Manchester. He wasn’t entirely correct, either.
Though Pique was unable to break up the Vidic-Ferdinand central defensive partnership at Old Trafford, he played 12 times in 2007-08, including a man of the match appearance away at Roma in the Champions League group stage.
Wanting first team football, Pique returned home in the summer of 2008 for a €4 million fee. Coach Guardiola immediately gave him the first team football he so desired.