Soccer is full of what ifs and what could have beens, perhaps especially so when it comes to transfers that never came to be.
That is the case when we look at the forward line that Barcelona could have had: Neymar, Mbappe, Haaland.
Former Blaugrana director Javier Bordas has been speaking about his time at the club and mentioned transfer policy, including some decisions which haven’t aged well.
“Because of the work I do, I know a lot of people. I met Mino Raiola and at one point we spoke about [Erling] Haaland for 20 million,” Bordas said on the Nude Project podcast.
“But [Raiola] wanted 20 million [euros] as a commission as well.
“I was just a director who suggested things, then there was a technical team who had to call the shots.”
Mbappe to Barcelona?
Bordas also claimed that he could have brought Kylian Mbappe to Barcelona, but that the technical directors at the time thought Ousmane Dembele was a better fit for the squad.
“I went for Mbappe, he could have come to Barcelona. We didn’t agree on a price but he would have come for about 100 million [euros],” said Bordas.
“The technical [team] said Dembele was the one we should go for because of the other players we had. There was the possibility of bringing both in.
“Mbappe didn’t want to go to Real Madrid because they had [Gareth] Bale, [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Karim] Bemzema. Barcelona went for Dembele and then Coutinho.
Neymar could have returned
Barcelona turned down the chance to go for Haaland… and Mbappe… and the opportunity to bring back Neymar. Bordas feels the latter in particular was a mistake.
“Neymar was close to going to Madrid. As I have a good relationship with him I said [to Barcelona] I would take care of it and go to Paris,” said Bordas.
“We could have brought him in. He’s the only player PSG have made us an offer for as a sale. It was an offer which, looking back, was amazing, but Barcelona got cold feet.
“I thought about resigning, leaving. It was very frustrating.”
