Pedro asks to leave Barcelona as Stoichkov sticks the boot in!

Barcelona legend Hristo Stoichkov has slammed Louis van Gaal and urged Pedro to stay put

Surely it is only a matter of time? A matter of time before Manchester United fans see a grinning Pedro in a press conference being shadowed by new boss Louis van Gaal as the club look to add some much needed pace out wide following the departure of Angel Di Maria to PSG. Today, Barcelona released a statement proclaiming that Pedro, who has amassed over 50 caps for Spain and been at the Catalonian club since his was a child, wants to leave the Spanish Champions – with United looking the likely destination.

However, hours earlier barmy Bulgarian and Barcelona legend Hristo Stoichkov slammed the United coach and urged the winger to stay and the Nou Camp. So what is it going to be? Will Pedro part ways with the club where he has won three European Cups – or will he depart for pastures new under the van Gaal regime?

Pedro asks to leave – Is Manchester his next destination?

This evening Barcelona technical secretary, Robert Fernández, released a statement regarding the future of Barcelona star Pedro.

“Pedro asked us for the transfer. We are not going to accept less than €30m for him, it’s not negotiable.”

The 28 year old would cost United around £22million, to met his release clause, if Louis van Gaal is to add to his squad this summer. United are in much need of pace on the flanks, which the United boss admitted last week when referring to the club’s attacking options following the sale of Angel Di Maria. So, based upon this information – will Pedro be heading to Manchester anytime soon?

Stoichkov believes the Dutchman is mediocre

Some of us still have nightmares from that night. Manchester United had battled back to draw 2-2 with the mighty Barcelona at Old Trafford in the autumn of 1994. Lee Sharpe scored a quite brilliant backflick with just over ten minutes to go to save a point for the home side. No one really wanted to admit it, but United had played second fiddle to a side consisting of Ronald Koeman, Romario, Stoichkov and Guardiola.

If there was a sense of squeaky bum time in the first match, I wouldn’t want to describe the return match! United were without Peter Schmeichel and the banned Eric Cantona, which led to the inevitable hammering by Johan Cruyff’s “Dream Team”. The Times once reported in 1953 that Billy Wright, the then England captain, was like “a fire engine going to put out the wrong fire” when he dived in only to find the magical Hungarian had side stepped his way past the English defender to score in the 6-3 mauling at Wembley. If Wright was like a fire truck heading in the wrong direction, Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister resembled two remote controlled cars being driven aimlessly off the top of a cliff or when you give an Xbox controller to someone who has never played the latest FIFA game before and is getting the buttons mixed up.

Stoichkov was on fire that night – scoring twice in the 4-0 win. The Bulgarian won a ridiculous amount of trophies when playing under Cruyff and later returned to the club, in 1997, following an unsuccessful stint in Serie A for Italy. After playing one season under Bobby Robson and alongside Ronaldo, he found his playing time severely limited under new boss – Louis van Gaal. The ex-Bulgarian captain is still surely quite bitter about his playing time under United’s boss, urged Pedro to stay put claiming the the Dutchan is “mediocre” and claimed he was a “bad person”!

“I would never be under the orders of Van Gaal”

“He’s mediocre. He destroyed Barca and is destroying Man Utd.”

“With what he has done to goalkeeper Valdes he has shown he is a bad person. Hopefully Pedro listens to me and doesn’t leave.”

“I would never leave if I was Pedro because if he goes there he would no longer be a footballer.”

“He has spent £200m and the other day I saw his first game of the season: disastrous. He won 1-0 (against Tottenham) because of an own goal.”