The date of December 22, 2020 is etched in the memory of Thomas HeurtelThat evening, after a defeat in the Euroleague against Anadolu Efes, in Istanbul, his club, Barcelona, refused him… access to the plane to return to Spain.
Pattern : relations between the two parties become a little more execrable when Barca learn that the Frenchman is negotiating his departure to historic rivals Real Madrid rather than Fenerbahçe. The coach at the time, Sarunas Jasikevicius, is particularly angry.
” From the first day, Saras didn't want me, I tried to change his mind during the first two months. Then the situation in Istanbul happened. It wasn't my fault. Everyone made a big deal out of it while I don't remember any athlete, not only among basketball players, that the club treated him the way they did “, denounces today the playmaker at Eurohoops.
No hard feelings
The Spanish club, towards whom the player says he has ” no hard feelings “, explained at the time that he had ” in no case ” neglected to the extent that ” All facilities were provided, hotel night, return ticket on a regular flight and necessary documents to be able to return to Barcelona the next day. “.
After this episode, the international found a way out by finishing the season at ASVEL before joining Real the following season. I was very happy to sign there because it is the best club in Europe. »
New Spanish club and new controversy: in April 2022, he is left out of the Madrid group for a night out in Athensa few hours before a match against Panathinaikos. Thomas Heurtel now admits to having committed ” that childish mistake of going out before playing “.
Learn from your mistakes
” It was a very serious mistake on my part, and I apologized to everyone: the staff, the GM and my teammates. I was ready to have a second chance, because I think I'm not the only athlete or basketball player to go out before a game, and especially I wasn't the only one (Editor’s note: American Trey Thompkins had also ruled out). But I was the only one to receive this treatment ” he regrets.
These two cases, which occurred before his departure for Russia, according to him contributed to generating a ” very bad reputation ” around his person. But since then, the person concerned assures that he has grown, even if his controversial departure to Zenit Saint-Petersburg and his ouster from the Blues has not really improved his image: ” I'm not the same man, not the same player. We always learn from our mistakes. […] I will never do what I did in Madrid again. Overall, I think people consider me a criminal. »
He, who is currently training in Madrid while waiting to land a new contract, nevertheless denies being ” a bad person or a bad teammate “He only asks for a new opportunity to be able to demonstrate it. Like with the French Team.
