10 frustrated signings of FC Barcelona that you did not remember

In recent days, a conversation between Junior Minguella, son of agent José María Minguella, always related to FC Barcelona, ​​and one of the club’s directors back in 2017 has become news. In that exchange of messages, the representative spoke about a young Kylian Mbappé who began to stand out at Monaco and presented him as a replacement for Neymar, but the entity ended up signing Ousmane Dembélé. Like this, there are many stories of frustrated signings that did not end up reaching Can Barça.

The mythical player and coach of Real Madrid was able to defend the colors of the maximum rival, but a logistical error ended with him wearing white. In 1946, Santiago Bernabéu read in La Vanguardia that FC Barcelona had sent the club’s secretary on a boat to Las Palmas to sign Molowny, who stood out in the Marino. The then president of the white team looked for a telephone and called his technical secretary: “Go to the bank, take 100,000 pesetas in hundred-dollar bills, and take the first plane that leaves for Las Palmas. There you sign up for Molowny ”. The plane arrived before the ship and the islander signed for Real Madrid in exchange for 75,000 pesetas for the club and 25,000 for himself as an advance.

When he was coach of Ajax Amsterdam, Johan Cruyff saw the birth and growth of a slender striker with exquisite class, and when he left for FC Barcelona he tried to take him with him. However, in 1993, Bergkamp rejected Cruyff to sign for Inter Milan and the ‘Flaco’ also incorporated Romario from Dutch football.

In 2003 Joan Laporta became president of FC Barcelona after a campaign marked by his promises of signings, among which the name of David Beckham stood out, who triumphed in Manchester and in the magazines. However, when Florentino Pérez contacted the Englishman, he could not say no and despite, they say, there is an agreement between United and Barça, Beckham ended up dressed in white. In exchange, Laporta took over Ronaldinho, who was also on Real Madrid’s agenda.

That same year at Sporting de Portugal, two promising players stood out: Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma, and Jorge Mendes was beginning to be noticed in the world of footballer representation. The agent offered both to FC Barcelona and Laporta chose the second, who the following year headed for Porto. The ‘Bug’ would arrive in Manchester, where he succeeded inheriting the ‘7’ from Beckham.

The Russian footballer attracted attention at UEFA 2008 and the subsequent European Championship, ending up in the tournament’s ideal team, and FC Barcelona even made a formal offer to Zenit St. Petersburg for him. The 15 million euros that the Catalans put on the table were not enough and Arsenal took him days later for 16.5 kilos.

The Barça team was the first to take an interest in the 17-year-old who was beginning to stand out in his first matches with Mallorca in the Second Division and knocked on his door. The Balearic club was asking for 3.5 million euros and, while Can Barça tried to lower that figure, Real Madrid arrived in the 2014 winter market and closed its signing. Marco Asensio himself also assured that Rafa Nadal had a lot to do with his arrival at the Santiago Bernabéu.

When FC Barcelona sold Neymar in exchange for 222 million euros, the Algerian, who was still playing for Leicester City, was one of those wanted, but the ‘Foxes’ refused to sell him. The following year Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City managed to convince Mahrez and his club to become a ‘citizen’.

The current goalkeeper of the Mancuniano team and Mahrez’s teammate could also have arrived at FC Barcelona in that summer of 2017. Ederson was a Benfica goalkeeper and he slipped into the agenda as a replacement for Marc-André ter Stegen. Real Madrid also had him in mind, but finally City was faster, put more than 50 ‘kilos’ on the table and took him away.

2017 was a bad year for the club’s technical secretariat as it also lost a Brazilian teenager who promised to shine as a Barça player. Vinicius’s family and agents were in April in a box at the Camp Nou watching the team that was intended to be his home as there was already a pre-agreement of 30 million euros and three in commissions. The people of FC Barcelona had been waiting for three years to be able to sign him when he turned 18 and at the last minute, shortly after debuting with Flamengo’s first team, the interest of Real Madrid arose, which raised the bid to 45 ‘kilos’ and he was I wear.

In January of last year, FC Barcelona was looking for a substitute striker and had already reached an agreement with Beijing Gouan and with Bakambu himself to play on loan until the end of the course. However, when the footballer was already at the airport to head to Spain, the Blaugrana club called him to inform him that the operation had been canceled. Bakambu laughed at it and asked Transfermarkt to reflect on his record that he almost signed for FC Barcelona.