Former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has said that the club had an “agreement in principle” to sign Vinícius Júnior before the Brazil winger signed for rivals Real Madrid.
Madrid, then managed by Zinedine Zidane, announced in 2017 that they had agreed a deal to sign Vinícius from Flamengo, with the deal to go through a year later when he turned 18.
He has since become the focal point of Madrid’s LaLiga and Champions League success and one the most highly-rated forwards in the world.
Vinícius said in 2019 that he chose to join Madrid as he felt there were more opportunities at the club, despite Barça “offering more money.”
And Speaking to ESPN Deportes, Bartomeu has revealed that Barcelona did make progress on a potential deal for the winger.
“Vinícius was of interest to the club [Barça], we spoke with his family, with his agents, and there was indeed an agreement in principle,” Bartomeu told ESPN.
“Madrid possibly made a better offer than Barça and took Vinícius.”
Bartomeu also said that he spoke with another Madrid star before they eventually moved to Spain, with Kylian Mbappé on Barça’s radar during his time at Monaco.
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“Monaco was asking for very high figures that Barça could pay at that time. We were the club in the world that earned the most money, the one with the best ratios. Well, the truth is that we are in a very, very good financial situation,” Bartomeu said.
“I remember speaking with Mbappé’s father a couple of times, but Paris Saint-Germain put a lot of pressure on Monaco, and I think Mbappé also preferred to go to PSG, a French team.
“We were negotiating with Ousmane Dembélé, who was the coaches’ preferred player.”
