Agent Josep Maria Minguella has been involved in a number of Barcelona’s biggest deals over the decades, including the one to bring Lionel Messi to the club. He could have played his part in the arrival of Kylian Mbappe, but the Blaugrana decided to go in a different direction.
Real Madrid announced the signing of Kylian Mbappe on Monday night, the culmination of a pursuit that has lasted over a decade. Los Blancos have made four attempts to sign him, while a teenager at AS Monaco, as an 18-year-old when he went to Paris Saint-Germain, in 2022, and again in 2024.
What is less known is that Barcelona missed a chance to go after Mbappe too. Agent Josep Maria Minguella, who has been heavily linked to the club, has told RadioMarca that Barcelona turned down the chance to pursue him in favour of Ousmane Dembele. His words were carried by Sport.
“My son, who was in France, told me that Monaco was liquidating the team. So, I spoke with the parents personally, the boy was 18 years old, and with Neymar’s departure, he told me that it would be a pleasure to go to Barca. I told Barcelona and they responded that, for the same value, Ousmane Dembele was better suited to them. They thought that the then Borussia Dortmund footballer was more suited to Barca’s way of playing. It’s a short story, but sad.”
It’s a story that has previously been commented on by Minguella in 2022, and former Director Javier Bordas has also declared that he tried to persuade the Blaugrana to sign Mbappe over Dembele in the past too.
The end results do not paint a pretty picture for Barcelona, a common theme from the transfer policy during the mandate of Josep Maria Bartomeu. Barcelona, if they weren’t already, will be made well aware of what they were missing out on over the next five years.