Why Barça missed Mbappé’s transfer in 2017 according to a former leader

Javier Bordas told this Sunday, to the newspaper Mundo Deportivo, how the Catalan club had missed Kylian Mbappé when he left Monaco in 2017. The former blaugrana leader said that Barcelona could even have paid much less than the PSG.

Regularly cited in the orbit of Real Madrid for several months, Kylian Mbappé could also extend his contract with PSG. Linked with the Ile-de-France club until June 2022, the French striker, on the other hand, could have seen his career take a completely different path during the summer of 2017, while Barça seems to have come close to recruiting him.

At the end of a good season, marked by a title of champion of France and a semi-final of the Champions League with AS Monaco, Kylian Mbappé then aroused much envy before joining PSG at the end of the transfer window. According to Javier Bordas, former technical director of Barça, the Catalan club thus considered making him the successor of Neymar after the departure of the Brazilian for Paris.

Mbappé proposed to Barça, exchanges with his father

With 222 million euros collected as part of Neymar’s transfer to PSG, the Blaugrana club has sought to renew its workforce with a young talent of world football.

« When we were in the process of signing Dembélé, Minguella (famous agent close to Barça, editor’s note) called me to tell us that Mbappé was within shooting range. I spoke to Bartomeu and he told me to watch him , said Javier Bordas in an interview with Mundo Deportivo. I called his father and he told me that he would not go to Madrid because there was already Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale. Instead, he could go to Barca because Neymar was no longer there. « 

Bordas: « For 100 million it could have been done »

Besides Kylian Mbappé, Barcelona have long observed Ousmane Dembélé. Also very prominent in the jersey of Borussia Dortmund, the winger finally had the favors of the Catalan leaders. However, the transfer of Kylian Mbappé could have been a nice financial blow because of the price asked by the ASM for the tricolor hope.

« The president of Monaco preferred that he go to Barça so as not to strengthen PSG, a direct rival. And for 100 million it could have been done. But Robert Fernández (Barça sporting director between 2015 and 2018, editor’s note) preferred Ousmane Dembélé and Pep Segura (ex general manager) supported him, again regretted Javier Bordas. The explanation was that Kylian Mbappé was playing for him and Ousmane Dembélé for the team. And as a winger left with Neymar, Robert Fernández preferred a winger rather than a finisher. « 

At the end of August 2017, Barcelona bet nearly 130 million for Ousmane Dembélé while Kylian Mbappé joined PSG for 180 million euros. Since then, « Dembouz » has alternated between good and bad due to numerous injuries while the Parisian striker has asserted himself as one of the new stars on the planet. Without rewriting history, this has something to arouse some regrets on the side of Catalonia.