sportbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Barcelona Had The Chance To Sign Real Madrid Star In 2008

Barcelona Had The Chance To Sign Real Madrid Star In 2008

Barca opted out of a deal back in the day.

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

Barcelona have a wonderful set of midfielders to choose from at present but they could have had another one of the world's finest central midfielders in their ranks had things played out differently back in the day.

The Blaugrana were presented with the chance to sign Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric back in 2008 when the Croatian was a rising star.

And Bojan Krkic Sr, father to current Stoke forward Bojan, has revealed that Barcelona had the transfer "in their hands" but decided not to sign Modric despite being impressed with his abilities.

Krkic Sr was working as a scout for Barcelona at the time and Modric was highly rated by a contact of his in Croatia but the Serbian says that Barca did no go about securing his signature because of the wealthy midfield options they already possessed, coupled with the fact Modric would likely need a settling in period at the Nou Camp and Barca "weren't thinking about the future."

Speaking to SER Catalunya, he said:

"We had it in our hands. Modric was a player with a winning mentality, but the club weren't thinking about the future, only the short to medium term.

"Our contact in Croatia spoke highly of Modric before he signed for Tottenham. I was working for Barca then and they sent us various DVDs [of him playing] with Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatian national team.

"I consulted with [Zvonimir] Boban, the ex-Milan and Croatia player, to get his opinion and he told me he [Modric] would be a star in the future.

"He was speaking fluent English and he came across as very intelligent and switched on."

Tottenham signed Modric for a fee of £16.5 million before his impressive four-year spell at White Hart Lane brought about interest from Madrid, who signed him for around £30 million in 2012.

Hindsight is a great thing, isn't it?

(h/t Squawka)

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: Barcelona, Luka Modric