Asked what he thought about Gerard Pique's presidential ambitions at Barcelona, Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola didn't hesitate in supporting his former player's hypothetical candidacy. The centre-back has made his presidential ambitions clear this past month, and has already helped put the club in touch with Rakuten, their new sponsor. "If I think Pique would make a good president?" Guardiola was asked. "I'd vote for him." Despite helping to start successful shirt sponsorship negotiations with Rakuten, Gerard Pique is said to have insisted on not receiving any extra pay upon completion of the deal. A friend of Hiroshi Mikitani, founder and president of the Japanese company, the defender is believed to have played a crucial part in engineering initial talks between the two parties. With that in mind, questions have since been raised as to whether Pique received some sort of commission for his role in proceedings- something which Camp Nou sources insist was absolutely not the case. Questioned during TV programme "El Món a Rac1", the vice-president of marketing and media at Barcelona, Manel Arroyo, refuted the suggestion outright. "[Pique received] Zero, absolutely nothing, in terms of money relating to the mediation- he has neither asked for it nor implied," Arroyo said. "He has done what any Barcelonista would do; present the club with an opportunity." Josep Maria Bartomeu praised Gerard Pique on Wednesday, after revealing the defender 'helped the Barcelona family', by introducing the club to new shirt sponsor, Rakuten. Last season's La Liga winners announced that the Japanese electronics company will replace Qatar Airlines as their main brand starting July 1, 2017. Pique, who has his own video games business, came to know Hiroshi Mikitani, who is the founder of Rakuten and he organised a meeting between the Japanese entrepreneur and Barcelona which set the wheels in motion for this mega deal. It has already been suggested that the centre-back could one day become club president, and he later admitted the role is something he would relish in the future. In terms of leadership, the former Manchester United defender is the unofficial fourth captain in the wake of Xavi's departure. While the role has been given to the more discreet and less controversial, Javier Mascherano, Pique acts as the mouthpiece of the dressing room and is now becoming a leader on and off the pitch.
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