By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
When Pau Gasol began to think about possibly returning to Europe to once again play basketball with a professional club, he decided that this team could be no other than Barcelona.
“It all started with a conversation with Juan Carlos [Navarro], who in addition to being a friend is involved in the club’s basketball section. I talked with him about the possibility that I was considering to return to Europe. There was interest by some European teams, but then I came up with the idea that if I had to go back to Europe it had to be with Barca,” Pau Gasol said per Spanish news agency EFE.
Gasol, 40, last played a game in March 2019 when he was with the Milwaukee Bucks. He underwent surgery on his left foot to repair a navicular stress fracture and has been working towards once again stepping on the court ever since.
In a tweet he made when the first reports about him joining Barcelona emerged, Gasol wrote that he’s not ready to go back to competing yet.
“I have not played basketball for practically two years, I have an old age for the world of sports and we had to go little by little,” Gasol said. “And here I am with a project and in a very beautiful stage, which we hope will work and what we will do everything possible to make it so.”
“We are still adjusting to the schedule,” Gasol added. “It has been a change, an important decision, which also involves a certain component on an emotional level, I am eager and excited to start, to continue getting closer to the moment of returning to the track and being able to help the team.”