Barcelona have always taken pride in their rich history, a trait that has persuaded the best talent in the world to join them, time and time again. Despite their reckless behaviour in the transfer market recently, the Spanish giants continue to possess the pulling power of a superclub, proved by their €55 million acquisition of Spanish prodigy Ferran Torres. Nevertheless, even the mighty Catalans have had to face failures in the market on multiple occasions. Shedding light on such incidents, let’s look at 5 players that Barcelona failed to sign.
5. Willian
Willian has had patches of brilliance in his career, during which the Brazilian has been practically unplayable. One of the best performances of his career came against the team who tried to sign him on multiple occasions, with Willian almost staging an upset against Barcelona in the Champions League in 2018. Following this incident, the 26-time La Liga champions relentlessly pursued the forward, even submitting bids in the range of €65 million to Chelsea. Nothing came to fruition, though, and Willian left Stamford Bridge for free in 2020 to join Arsenal. He later revealed that he rejected Barcelona’s advances because he was unclear about the club’s targets and their intentions for the player.
4. Marco Asensio
Currently, it is impossible to imagine a dedicated Madridista like Marco Asensio in a Blaugrana shirt. However, in 2015, Barcelona were freakishly close to signing the Spanish attacker. Asensio had emerged as an exciting prospect back then, catching the attention of multiple clubs due to his breakout campaign with Mallorca FC. With such speculations around the youngster, Barcelona were handed the opportunity to sign him. However, they refused to fork up the money needed to acquire the Spaniard, as stated by Asensio’s agent Horacio Gaggioli. He even said that the Catalans did return after three months to enquire about their man. However, by then, it was too late, and Asensio ended up signing for Real Madrid.
3. Lautaro Martinez
Barcelona’s long-time interest in Lautaro Martinez is no secret. The Spanish giants have been desperately looking for a Luis Suarez replacement ever since they booted him off to Atletico Madrid in 2020. The Argentinian forward himself admitted that a deal was really close to happening, even stating that he had an intense exchange with Lionel Messi regarding the same. Nevertheless, due to their financial incapacity, Barcelona failed to land their target, and Martinez continues to star for an exciting Inter side.
2. Marco Verratti
The deal that started it all, Barcelona’s failure to capture Marco Verratti, arguably initiated the club’s downfall. In 2017, the Blaugrana were head over heels for the Italian prodigy and did their utter best to snatch him from the hands of PSG. Verratti’s former agent Donato di Campli was actually interested in making the transfer happen, claiming that he wanted to force the separation. Nevertheless, PSG could fend off all the interest from Barcelona, and four years later, Verratti continues to be a superstar at the French club.
1. Neymar
Barcelona attempted to poach Verratti off the hands of PSG in 2017 prompted Les Parisiens to strike back. In a move that would change football forever, PSG activated Neymar‘s gigantic release of €222 million and ended up signing him. While the loss of Neymar proved to be catastrophic for Barcelona, the Brazilian’s affair with PSG did not fare well either. Disciplinary issues and constant rumours linking him to a return to Catalonia reached their boiling point in 2020. The Blaugrana even submitted a bid of €130 million with the inclusion of Ivan Rakitic, Jean-Clair Todibo and Ousmane Dembele to get their man. However, PSG turned it down. A year later, they ended up signing Barca legend Lionel Messi on a free transfer.
