Sarunas Jasikevicius, the former coach of Barcelona, was one of those who opposed the idea of Thomas Heurtel traveling back to Barcelona with the team, instead, he was left in Istanbul.
So, it was initially thought that he was going to Fenerbahce, but there were reports about a move to Real Madrid, which led to the opposition of a significant part of the Barcelona team against Heurtel returning with the team to Spain.
“After the game, I entered the locker room. Sarunas Jasikevicius said to me, ‘Nacho, Heurtel is not traveling with us, right?’ I told him that, of course, he is traveling, and we cannot leave a player completely alone during the pandemic, and he has to travel regardless of everything. Maybe I can’t understand it, but nine people agreed with Sarunas. Let him stay here, he will get a plane ticket and a hotel room,” Nacho emphasized.
This is how the dilemma of why the French point guard was not allowed to return to Spain with Barcelona was resolved. Instead of signing with Real Madrid, he ended up with Asvel and now plays for Zenit.