Pau Gasol finally announced his return to Barcelona. The news, advanced last Saturday with the consequent displeasure of the player, became official this Tuesday, being Pau himself who communicated it through social networks to make a signing effective that he agreed with the club until the end of the season, with the goal of preparing for the Olympics.
«I am very happy to announce that I am returning home and that I will soon join the ranks of Barcelona. I want to make my skills and experience available to the club at a key moment of the season as I continue to progress in my physical condition and start to pick up the pace of competition. I am happy to return to the club where I started and I am looking forward to this opportunity and hoping to contribute to the first team soon. I want to thank Barça and the technical team that made my incorporation possible », wrote Gasol on his twitter account, giving an account of the agreement a day before, on Wednesday, the registration period for new players for the Euroleague closes. .
With 40 years of age and almost two since he played his last game in the NBA, the Catalan pivot joins Barça led by his friend Sharunas Jasievicius with the challenge of getting into individual competition form and bringing his experience to a position Of which the team was in need to help him win the Spanish League and aspire to the Euroleague title, the only one that is missing at club level and that the Barça club won for the second and last time in 2010.
The delicate economic situation of Barça has not been an impediment for the negotiations, which began last week, to be finalized quickly since it was Gasol himself who offered himself to the club and his salary will be limited to the minimum established by the collective agreement of the League, which being 68 thousand euros per season will bring you an income below 30 thousand. In any case, the player has already received a salary from Barcelona for two years, for which he earns more than 200 thousand euros according to what he agreed with former president Josep María Bartomeu as ambassador and strategic advisor of the club.
When the season is over, it will be time to start new talks, if both parties agree, to extend their stay at Barcelona with a new contract. Gasol played for the last time on March 10, 2019 in the game between the Milwaukee Bucks and San Antonio Spurs (114-121), staying 14 minutes on the court and already showing some discomfort in his left foot that ended up forcing him to go through it. operating room and remaining inactive since then, never having made his debut with the Portland Trail Blazers, who cut him in October of the same year after signing him as a free agent that summer. (GG) (ESPNDEPORTES.COM)