THE writing was on the wall for Gerard Pique’s Manchester United career – when boss Alex Ferguson saw him “bullied” at Bolton, says club legend Wayne Rooney.
Fergie famously had to pick out of Northern Ireland defender Jonny Evans or Pique in terms of who would make the grade for his Old Trafford team to partner Serbian stalwart Nemanja Vidic.
The Scot decided to bomb out centre-half Pique in 2008 – who went on to become a 2010 World Cup winner with Spain and a Champions League winner at Barcelona, becoming one of the world’s greatest defenders.
But Rooney, writing in his column in the Sunday Times today, reckons Fergie had seen enough when he was out-muscled at Wanderers, a notorious and difficult team to play against in the 2000s.
The Trotters won that home match 1-0 on November 24, 2007, with former Arsenal striker Nicolas Anelka getting the only goal.
Rooney said: “Bolton away was always horrible. It was physical and you knew you had to win the fight to win the game.
“Bolton away more or less finished Gerard Pique’s career at United.
“He was young and got bullied there and I think that’s when Fergie decided that, physically, he wasn’t right for the Premier League.
“I always remember Vidic: if we were going to Bolton — and it was the same when he was about to face Didier Drogba — he would be in the gym for two or three days before, pumping himself up.
“Bolton had bits of quality too and the way they fought and worked as a unit, then found moments to use that quality, was typical of how a team can beat better players by being more than the sum of its parts.
“It happened for Everton in the 1995 FA Cup final — I still don’t know how we beat United that day.
“It happened when United played Barcelona in the 2008 Champions League semi-final.
“Barca played the better football by a mile in both legs and that was 180 minutes of pure hard work, of hanging in there, and riding your luck.
“Real teams realise that sometimes you have to win ugly.”
