Revealed: Barca rejected chance to sign Haaland only to land ex-Portsmouth man
Football
By
Mirror
| Nov 16, 2020
Former Barcelona director Javier Bordas has revealed the Catalan giants turned down the chance to sign Erling Haaland back in 2019, with Kevin Prince-Boateng joining on loan from Sassuolo instead.
At the time, Barcelona were looking to bring in some cover for Luis Suarez and Haaland was one of a number of options considered by the club's hierarchy.
Recalling the discussions, which ended with former Tottenham and Portsmouth player Boateng being brought in on loan, Bordas explained why the club opted not to sign Haaland.
Speaking to Mundo Deportivo, Bordas said: "Because they told me that [he] was not a Barca player.
"I understand that Bartomeu ignores the technical secretary, but the truth is that these players could have come, and then you don’t know what performance they are going to give."
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Bordas also revealed that Barcelona had the chance to sign Kylian Mbappe but opted to bring in Ousmane Dembele instead.
He added: "Yes, when we were ready to sign Dembele, [Josep Maria] Minguella called me to tell us that Mbappe was within reach. I spoke with [Josep Maria] Bartomeu and he told me to look at him.
"I called his father and he told me that he was not going to go to Madrid because Cristiano, Benzema and Bale were there and instead he could go to Barca because Neymar was not there.
"The president of Monaco preferred for him to go to Barca so as not to strengthen PSG, a direct rival. And for 100 million euros it could have been done.
"But Robert preferred Dembele and Pep Segura supported him. The explanation was that Mbappe plays for himself and Dembele plays for the team.
"And since a winger like Ney[mar] left, Robert preferred a winger more than a finisher."