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FC Barcelona is arguably one of the most celebrated football clubs in the world. FC Barcelona is, as the motto says, “Mes que un club,” meaning more than a club. Some of the legends of the game like Johan Cruyff, Ronaldinho, Pep Guardiola, Diego Maradona, Ronaldo, and Laszlo Kubala have played for the Blaugrana in the past.
Barcelona's famous La Masia academy has produced some of the more recent legends of the game like Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, and Lionel Messi. Also, the club has spent a lot of money in buying world-class players like Luiz Suarez, Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele, Neymar, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Despite all these legendary names, the club has also declined opportunities to sign some great talents in world football. On that note, let’s take a look at 5 players Barcelona will always rue not signing the most:
#5 Luka Modric
There are only a few, if any, who are better central midfielders in the world than Luka Modric right now. The Croatian led Real Madrid to successive UEFA Champions League titles and has been brilliant for Los Blancos over the last few years. He is one of the best passers in the game with an excellent first touch and ball control.
According to former Barcelona scout Bojan Krkic Sr., Barcelona reportedly turned down the chance to sign Luka Modric in 2008. Luka Modric had a breakout 2007/08 season with Dinamo Zagreb and found himself on the radars of top European clubs.
However, Barcelona were reportedly not looking for a long-term solution at that time and they already had quality in the middle of the park with Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and Yaya Toure, and hence, they passed out the chance to sign him.
He then moved to Tottenham Hotspur in a £16.5 million deal, before moving to arch-rivals Real Madrid in 2012.
#4 David Silva
David Silva, one of the greatest midfielders to have played in England and Barcelona, would have benefited a great deal had Pep Guardiola taken Unai Emery’s advice in 2010. The Spaniard moved to Manchester City in 2010 and went on to become a world-class midfielder at the Etihad.
He has made 332 appearances for Manchester City and scored 56 goals so far, and more than the goals, his creativity and vision are regarded as his greatest virtues. He is a clever midfielder and one of the best players in the world when it comes to making an attacking pass.
How did Barcelona miss out? Pep Guardiola reportedly turned down the opportunity to sign him in 2010 because of his price. Guardiola felt he was expensive and City grabbed the opportunity.
Pep recently said, “I remember when I was at Barcelona and the first or second year I was there, Unai Emery was there and after the game, he said, 'David Silva is the player for you, for Barcelona. Believe me, that is a Barcelona player.” He also said, “Emery was so right. He's a special player. It's not [just] about the quality.”
Sounds an awful lot like regret, doesn't it?
#3 Marco Asensio
Oh, my word !! What have you done, Barcelona?
Marco Asensio is one of the great young talents in world football right now. The 22-year-old arrived at Real Madrid in 2014 and has gone on to become one of the important players for Zinedine Zidane. In 2016, Vicente del Bosque referred him as the “greatest talent in Spain.”
He has already made 70 appearances for Real Madrid and scored 18 times across all competitions. He is a technically gifted attacking midfielder with an eternal eye on the goal. In fact, He has scored some wonder goals for Real Madrid and is definitely the future of Spanish football.
According to the player's agent Horacio Gaggioli, the Catalan giants reportedly missed the opportunity to sign Marco Asencio for a reported €4.5m in 2014.
Gaggioli claims that Barcelona moved in to sign him. They allegedly bid €2.5 million for him (with an extra €2 million if he played in the first division), but Mallorca insisted on €4.5 million up front.
Barca then reportedly said, 'No, we're not able [to match your price tag].', which is when Gaggioli thinks "They lost the opportunity.”
#2 Kylian Mbappe
Kylian Mbappe was a sensation last year when he played a key role in Monaco’s Ligue 1 title win. He proved himself to be a prolific scorer at the tender age of 18, showing a lot of maturity.
He is physically strong, possesses electric pace and is lethal in front of goal. He holds up play well and also works really hard on the pitch.
He scored 26 goals for Monaco in 2016/17 and was fancied by many top cash-rich European clubs. The famous Spanish agent Josep Maria Minguella reportedly offered Barcelona the chance of signing the teenage sensation. However, the deal did not materialize as Barcelona had other targets in mind.
Minguella revealed during an interview with Cope (via IBTimes), “Barcelona had Mbappe's signing in their hands when it was known that Neymar was leaving. They could have signed him for €120m plus €30m in add-ons. But they turned down the chance to sign him and instead, signed Ousmane Dembele.”
#1 Paul Pogba
The Frenchman is arguably one of the best midfielders in world football at the moment. He helped Juventus to multiple Serie A titles before making his return to Manchester United. Pogba is a dominating midfielder who likes to boss the game.
He is physically strong and brilliant in the air, while his passing and vision are simply phenomenal. Though Manchester United could not hold onto him in 2012, they did well to bring him back in 2016, at the expense of Barcelona.
In 2016, Barcelona’s director of sporting relations Albert Soler revealed that Barcelona has passed up the opportunity to sign the Frenchman in the summer, despite having the first option on the midfielder.
According to him, Barcelona had the first refusal on a deal to sign Pogba after securing an agreement with Juventus the previous summer, which would give them priority on 23-year-old if the Serie A champions decided to sell him.
"Last year we reached a deal with Juventus for us to have a priority option when they sold Pogba," he said. "This summer we decided that there were players that suited us better on a sporting level."
He also added, "The idea of the board was that nobody would be able to get ahead of us in the market. It allowed us to have options."
Notably, instead of signing Paul Pogba, Barcelona went on to sign the duo of Denis Suarez and Andre Gomes.
The very thought of a Barcelona side with Paul Pogba at the heart of it could send shivers down spines.
