We know a thousand stories about talents who never lived up to the expectations placed on them. Many of these jewels fail to take off for several different reasons: an injury, lack of professionalism, irregularity … However, the history of Gai assulin It is something different, since it is not well known what was the real reason that triggered the Israeli not to triumph in elite football.
“He is the most talented player I have seen pass through La Masia”, he claimed Thiago Alcantara when asked about the player’s beginnings in the Blaugrana team. With that level deployed in Barcelona B, the arrival of Pep Guardiola on the bench at Camp Nou and his debut in the Copa del Rey with the first team, Assulin was quick to attract everyone’s attention. His similarity in the way of playing with Leo and his immense quality to dribble rivals gave him the nickname of ‘Israeli Messí ‘, something that with the passage of time, has brought more inconvenience than benefits to the player in his professional career.
“People like to compare in football; It is something that is done often and for me it is a great compliment, but Messi is the best footballer in history, comments Assulín in an interview with ‘The Guardian’ in Chesire (England), where he is living with his wife and eight-year-old daughter while he gets another opportunity to continue enjoying football.
“It is not good that you take it the wrong way, since the expectation is that you go to the field and do the same as Messi all the time. The negative part is that in all the clubs that I was, they knew that I was compared to Messi, so they thought it was going to be him and that he would score 50 goals per season, so the comparison did not help me in this case. Now I see something positive, that I have been compared to the best in history … few players can say, “he added.
After his debut at Can Barça, Gai Assulín never played with the first team again, he was transferred in 2010 to Manchester City of Mancini, a coach who never trusted the youth of the club, so his destiny was written. A posteriori, he filled out his curriculum with various Spanish and foreign teams such as the Racing de Santander, Hercules, Mallorca or the Kairat Almaty from Kazakhstan, up to the Cream of the Italian Serie D, his last team and where he has recently finished his stage.
Now he is without a team, he usually plays futsal with his friends and helps a friend of his in a children’s clothing store.. Assulin values the time he spends with his family more than ever, especially after spending so many years away and without the company of his loved ones, something that is typical when you are a professional footballer. “My daughter has seen me score some goals in Italy and Israel and she is very proud of me, she wants me to continue playing football because she wants to tell her friends that her father is a footballer, but she also wants me to stay in Manchester,” he explained.
Whatever decision he makes, Gai wants to remain linked to the world of the spherical, because it is what he really loves: “It is what I want the most in life and I will always love it and I will do it whenever I can. Although now I am not with a team, I try to play and train to do the best I can when the opportunity comes, “he concluded.
