A few weeks ago Ryan Giggs decided to become an influential figure for Manchester United as he retired but was named as the assistant coach of Louis van Gaal.

The veteran midfielder still remains being a part of the Premier League club but outside of the pitch instead of his usual role in the squad and this is similar to Carles Puyol who has concluded his glorious career with Barcelona but will still maintain a close relationship with Barcelona as he will be joining the Football Department managed by Andoni Zubizarreta as an assistant to the sports management team. In much the same way, it’s rumoured that Steven Gerrard will sign up and partner with the HFSG when he quits playing.

Since 2010 Puyol started seeing his career suffering a decline as he went from constantly performing at the highest level to having to make way to the sidelines of Barcelona due to injuries.

This past season saw Puyol only making 5 league appearances and the previous season wasn’t much better as he was only featured in 13 and now he has decided to wrap up his career which has seen him making over 500 appearances for Barcelona and lifting the Spanish league title on 6 occasions as well as securing the Champions League silverware 3 times.

Puyol was thrilled about hearing the news of his appointment as the assistant to the sports management team of Barcelona.

“I want to thank FC Barcelona for all that it has given me before and for this chance that has arisen now. I will try and do the very best I can, and especially to learn a lot. I have always played football and tried to do so as well as possible, and I’ll be doing the same with this. Now I need some time to rest and continue treatment on my knee, but I am really looking forward to it. I am very excited about this new stage of my life.” Puyol admitted.