Javier Bordas, Barcelona’s former sports director, revealed that the Catalan club had a good opportunity to sign Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe, but for somewhat strange reasons, former president Josep Maria Bartomeu refused to include them.
According to Bordas, Mbappe was at the top of the list of candidates to join Barcelona in the summer of 2017 after Neymar left for Paris Saint-Germain, and the financial capabilities were greatly available at Camp Nou at that time.
But with a decree from President Bartomeu, Barcelona took another path, and signed Ousmane Dembélé for 100 million euros, in a deal considered one of the Blaugrana’s most unsuccessful deals, given the player’s successive injuries over the course of 5 years.
As for Haaland, Bordas claimed that Barcelona could have signed the Norwegian when he was a player in Austrian club Salzburg, for only 20 million euros, with another 20 going to his late agent, Mino Raiola.
Once again, the Barcelona administration, headed by Bartomeu, intervened, as they decided that including Haaland was not the best option in light of the presence of Luis Suarez in the Catalan club at the time.
It is true that Suarez is one of Barça’s legends, but he had advanced in age, and less than a year later he left the club after his disagreements with Dutch coach Ronald Koeman.
Meanwhile, Dembélé left Barcelona last summer after returning to some form, and joined Paris Saint-Germain for 50 million euros.
Now Barcelona is trying to include Haaland and needs more than 200 million euros to complete the deal, while Mbappe is on the verge of joining Real Madrid next summer.
