Ex-president reveals Barcelona were on verge of signing Vinicius Jr & Kylian Mbappe
(Courtesy : LaLiga)
Josep Maria Bartomeu is the former president of FC Barcelona.
Prior to Vinícius Júnior joining rival Real Madrid, the Catalan club had a “agreement in principle” to sign the Brazilian winger, according to former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
In 2017, Madrid, under Zinedine Zidane’s management, announced that it had reached an agreement to recruit Vinícius from Flamengo; the contract would be finalised a year later, when he turned 18.
Since then, he has grown to be one of the most highly regarded forwards in the world and the centre of Madrid’s LaLiga and UEFA Champions League glory.
Despite Barça “offering more money,” Vinícius stated in 2019 that he decided to join Madrid because he believed there were more prospects there.
Bartomeu reveals he pushed to sign Vinicius and Mbappe
Additionally, Bartomeu disclosed in an interview with ESPN Deportes that Barcelona proceeded with a possible deal for the winger.
“Vinícius was of interest to the club [Barça], we spoke with his family, with his agents, and there was indeed an agreement in principle,” Bartomeu told ESPN.
“Madrid possibly made a better offer than Barça and took Vinícius.”
Before they finally relocated to Spain, Bartomeu claimed to have spoken with another Madrid player, Kylian Mbappé, who was on Barça’s radar while he was at AS Monaco.
“Monaco was asking for very high figures that Barça could pay at that time. We were the club in the world that earned the most money, the one with the best ratios. Well, the truth is that we are in a very, very good financial situation,” Bartomeu said.
“I remember speaking with Mbappé’s father a couple of times, but Paris Saint-Germain put a lot of pressure on Monaco, and I think Mbappé also preferred to go to PSG, a French team.”
“We were negotiating with Ousmane Dembélé, who was the coaches’ preferred player.”
When did Vinicius join Madrid?
He joined them in 2018.
When did Bartomeu leave Barcelona?
Josep Maria Bartomeu resigned as president of FC Barcelona on October 27, 2020
For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Telegram.
After earning a bachelor's degree in mass media, Rajarshi began his career as a sports writer in 2019, driven by his passion for sports journalism. He has been working in the field for over six years. A devoted fan of Lionel Messi and Barcelona, Rajarshi has been involved in sports since childhood. Before turning his focus to journalism, he even represented his college at the state level. Along with covering football, he enjoys playing the game, watching movies, and experimenting with new recipes in his spare time, as cooking is one of his favorite hobbies.