Andre-Pierre Gignac, the French striker for Tigres UANL, passed up the great opportunity to play with Boca Juniors in the coveted Copa Libertadores because He will keep his word to the Tigres squad to retire with the university team and honor his commitment. The striker revealed this in an interview given more than two years ago to the French newspaper L'Equipe, where he explained how he rejected the attractive sporting and financial offer from the popular Boca Juniors squad, where Diego Maradona and Juan Roman Riquelme played. This offer resurfaced because Gignac posed in a pickup game wearing the jersey of the popular Argentine team. Gignac acknowledged the offer from the Argentinians in the interview just days after the defeat in the final against Toluca, during a moment of leisure when he was seen playing and socializing with friends in a pickup game wearing the Boca Juniors jersey. The Frenchman said that the South Americans offered the same salary as Tigres, but with the great opportunity to play in the Copa Libertadores, an experience few players have the chance to have and which could be similar to playing in the Champions League. League.

But in the end, the analysis of his current situation with Tigres weighed more heavily on the fact that he still had unfinished business with the club, such as reaching his 105th goal and, above all, fulfilling his promise to retire from football wearing the university jersey. Therefore, accepting the offer from Boca Juniors would have broken his word to his devoted fans since his early years in Mexican football.

Andre-Pierre admitted that his admiration for Boca Juniors is immense, but if he had accepted the offer, he would have betrayed the Tigres fans, and for him, his word means more than just a signature on a piece of paper.

Gignac played a pickup game in Monterrey

Andre-Pierre Gignac is so immersed in life in Monterrey that he did not hesitate to participate in a pickup game in the city, wearing a Boca Juniors jersey.This generated a huge buzz on social media, further fueling speculation that he was close to accepting the