What’s the story?
Kevin Gameiro has revealed that he turned down the chance to join Barcelona because of their forward trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez. The Atletico Madrid striker was a target for the Catalan side before they signed Paco Alcacer.
"I had the choice between going to Barca or coming to Atletico. But what am I going to do at Barca? There's Neymar, [Lionel] Messi and [Luis] Suarez. There are players like that who want to play every match, who refuse to come off for even ten minutes at the end. That's what happened with Ibra." the striker told Le10 Sport.
In case you didn’t know...
Ibrahimovic was signed by Barcelona under Pep Guardiola in 2009 for a fee of £59 million and Samuel Eto'o. The Swedish international played just 29 matches for the club and was loaned out the next season to AC Milan. He enjoyed his spell at the Serie A side and eventually made a permanent move there in 2011.
Gameiro was signed by Sevilla from PSG in 2013 and since then; he was on top of his game. His performances for the Los Nervionenses caught the eye of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. Despite Barcelona offering him more wages and also submitting a bigger bid for him, he opted to join Atletico Madrid. The Catalan side had to settle for Paco Alcacer after this snub.
The heart of the matter
Gameiro believes that he would not have enjoyed a lot of game time had he opted to join Barcelona. He pointed out that the Spanish giants would not start anyone ahead of Messi, Neymar and Suarez and that the trio would not even come off for the last 10 minutes of the game.
The French international joined Atletico for more game time and stats prove that he indeed has got nearly double the game time as his 'replacement', Paco Alcacer has got at Barcelona. Kevin has played 1618 minutes in La Liga for Atletico while Paco has managed just 830 minutes for the Catalan side.
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Author’s Take
Gameiro was right to reject Barcelona. Why would one want to be on the bench when you are nearing your 30's? At Atletico Madrid, he has the same opportunity of winning trophies as he would have at Camp Nou.
While some may argue that Barcelona are a better team and stuff, it's Atletico who have progressed further in the Champions League in the last few years. And yes, Champions League > La Liga.
