Real Madrid-bound Kylian Mbappe ‘would’ve signed’ for FC Barcelona, ex-director claims
It has been claimed that Real Madrid-bound Kylian Mbappe had been willing to sign for FC Barcelona as he “would have” signed for the La Liga giants.
Barcelona won the La Liga title last season but Xavi’s side are currently trailing Real Madrid by eight points in the title race.
Mbappe blow
Last summer’s arrival of Jude Bellingham has boosted Real Madrid as Carlo Ancelotti’s have moved clear at the top of La Liga after shock early-season leaders Girona fell away.
In a further blow to Barcelona, Real Madrid are expected to sign Mbappe on a free transfer in the summer upon the expiry of his current contract with Paris Saint-Germain.
Mbappe is one of the best players in the world and he will be expected to take Real Madrid to another level from next season.
Despite this, Barcelona sporting director Deco has somewhat naively claimed that Mbappe will create “problems” at Real Madrid.
“He is a decisive player, who scores a lot of goals,” Deco told reporters.
“If he comes to Real Madrid, they will be stronger, but they will have to solve some tactical problems. But in football, balance is very important.”
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In a separate interview with Esport3, Deco claimed that Barcelona would become a “worse team” if Mbappe’s potential arrival at the Nou Camp forced the club to sell Ronald Araujo and Frenkie de Jong.
“I don’t know what will happen with Mbappe. It would be a mistake to sell [Ronald] Araujo and Frenkie [de Jong]. I would like to improve the squad and not make it worse. I think it would be worse for the team if Araujo and Frenkie left and Mbappe came.”
“Mbappe would have played for Barcelona…”
Former Barcelona director Javier Bordas has now boldly suggested that the Spanish giants could have signed Mbappe in 2017 following Neymar’s move to PSG.
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At the time, Mbappe was with Ligue Un outfit AS Monaco and Bordas attempted to engineer the Frenchman’s move to Barcelona, who ended up signing Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund as an alternative.
Bordas claims Mbappe “would have come” to Barcelona and there was a moment when he thought they “had him”.
“If I had been in charge, Mbappe would have played for Barça. When they paid €222 million for Neymar, we had money to sign him. But the management preferred Dembele,” Bordas said in an interview with El Chiringuito TV.
“I went for Mbappe, I talked to his father, he would have come to Barça. For a moment I thought that on the 30th we had him.”
