Carles Puyol Resigns from Barcelona: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction

Uncredited/Associated Press

Carles Puyol has taken the decision to resign from his role as Barcelona assistant sports director, following former director Andoni Zubizarreta out the exit just hours after he was fired.     

BBC Sport announced earlier on Monday that Zubizarreta had been relieved of his duties, with Puyol taking to his official Facebook account (in Spanish) not long after to announce his own departure (h/t Rik Sharma of Sport English):

With this statement, I want to announce I have decided to terminate my employment with Barcelona Football Club. 

These three and a half months have given me the opportunity to see the other side of the club. I learned a lot. I’m very grateful and now want to experience other things form another perspective and from elsewhere. 

I want to grow both personally and professionally so that, in the future, hopefully I can return home and give you back everything you have given me during these unforgettable years. […]

It’s unknown at this point as to what relation the two exits have with one another, but it’s unlikely to be a coincidence that two members of the board left in such quick succession without shared cause.

Puyol retired from his playing career in 2014 and received the backing of the Daily Mail’s Sharma and Ben Hayward of Goal.com in his decision, both of whom hint at the sour nature of this current Barca administration:

As Puyol says in his message, via Sharma, the former Blaugrana centre-back wishes to return to the club in some capacity one day and would undoubtedly be welcomed back with open arms by whomever should be in charge at said juncture.  

For now, though, the man who shares a link with the Catalan club stretching back just under 20 years is looking for a break—and understandably so.