5 world-class players Barcelona almost signed

#3 Mesut Ozil

The midfielder ended up joining Barcelona's arch-rivals Real Madrid.

Another player who would've been a perfect fit at Barcelona is Mesut Ozil. The 2014 FIFA World Cup winner was heavily linked with a switch to the Blaugrana in 2010. In fact, Barcelona reached an agreement with Werder Bremen to sign the Turkish for just £7 million.

The midfielder even had a meeting with then Barcelona president Sandro Rosell to secure a move to Camp Nou. However, the Bremen board weren't convinced with the transfer, and decided against it. After the move fell through, Ozil ended up joining Barcelona's arch-rivals Real Madrid on August 17, 2010.

The former Germany international went to on to become a huge success at the Santiago Bernabeu. He bagged 27 goals and 80 assists in 159 appearances for Los Blancos across competitions. Ozil also won multiple trophies, including La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup during his three-year spell in Madrid.

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#2 David Beckham

Beckham turned down the chance to switch to Camp Nou.

David Beckham enjoyed a decent spell at Real Madrid, recording 20 goals and 51 assists in 159 appearances between 2003 and 2007. However, the attacker could've bagged those numbers at Camp Nou had things worked in Barcelona's favour.

Ahead of his transfer to the Santiago Bernabeu in 2003, Beckham was expected to switch to Barcelona. In fact, the Blaugrana had an agreement in place with Manchester United to sign Beckham for £25 million. However, the winger turned down the move, and joined Real Madrid instead.

As a result, Barcelona decided to sign Ronaldinho from PSG instead. That proved to be a masterstroke, as the Brazilian went on to establish himself as one of the greatest players in the club's history. The 2002 FIFA World Cup winner recorded 94 goals and 74 assists in 207 games for the club across competitions.

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#1 Cristiano Ronaldo

Barcelona were offered the chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo for just €17 million.

Barcelona were among the clubs who tried to sign a young Cristiano Ronaldo from Sporting CP. The Blaugrana were offered the chance to snap up the winger in 2003 while they were in negotiations to sign another Portuguese player, Deco.

Joan Laporta, who was the club's president during that period, later opened up on what transpired back then. He explained:

"We had signed Ronaldinho, (Rafael) Marquez and (Ricardo) Quaresma. We were in a process of reconstruction throughout the whole club. (Ronaldo) was at Sporting at the time, before Manchester United, and we were speaking with his agent who wanted to sell us Deco."

"We said that we couldn't because we weren't able to (spend that much at the time, so he told us he had another really good kid. It was Ronaldo. He had a deal with United for €19 million, but we were offered him for €17 million."

Barcelona squandered that opportunity to sign one of the greatest footballers in history. Cristiano Ronaldo ended up joining Manchester United that summer, where he spent six successful years before joining Barcelona's arch-rivals Real Madrid in 2009.