{"id":17356,"date":"2026-05-05T16:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/17356\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T16:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:39:10","slug":"kylian-mbappe-could-have-joined-barcelona-but-staff-prioritized-ousmane-dembele-says-ex-president-josep-maria-bartomeu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/17356\/","title":{"rendered":"Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 could have joined Barcelona, but staff prioritized Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, says ex-president Josep Maria Bartomeu"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/a> has become Real Madrid\u2019s cornerstone after arriving as a marquee signing from PSG. However, the Frenchman was close to joining Barcelona when he was still at AS Monaco. After the departure of Neymar Jr., the Blaugrana<\/a> were looking for their next star on the left wing, ready to pay a huge transfer fee. While he was a clear option, the staff decided to prioritize the signing of Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9<\/a>, as revealed by former president Josep Maria Bartomeu.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want the players to leave for other teams, so we matched the offers. Neymar\u2019s departure led other clubs to pay high amounts\u2026 We asked about Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 and Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, but the coaching staff preferred Demb\u00e9l\u00e9. The only decision I made as president was the signing of Luis Su\u00e1rez,\u201d revel\u00f3 Josep Maria Bartomeu, via Cadena SER.<\/p>\n

After several brilliant seasons at AS Monaco, Mbapp\u00e9 pushed for a move away in 2017, with Real Madrid<\/a> as the main interested party. However, he rejected that option, as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale would not have guaranteed him a starting role. While he eventually signed for PSG for \u20ac180 million, he could have become a Barcelona player had they decided to pursue his signing instead of Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, who never truly shined at the club.<\/p>\n

While Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 went on to become one of the best players in the world, the Frenchman had a disappointing stint at Barcelona. Signed as one of the world\u2019s most promising young talents, the Blaugranas expected him to make a major impact on the field, but injuries and poor decisions on field prevented him from shining. In contrast, Mbapp\u00e9 excelled at PSG, becoming the team\u2019s best player, proving that the Spanish club\u2019s decision was completely wrong.<\/p>\n

\"Real<\/p>\n

Kylian Mbappe of Real Madrid reacts during a training session ahead of the UEFA Champions League.<\/p>\n

Barcelona\u2019s post-Neymar transfers: Three big failures under Bartomeu<\/p>\n

Despite being one of the best players in the world, Neymar Jr. decided to leave Barcelona via his \u20ac222M release clause to PSG. While this record fee could have been key to rebuilding the squad, president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his front office instead chose to sign Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, and Antoine Griezmann, all of whom ultimately failed to meet expectations and later left as free agents.<\/p>\n

\"Report:<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

Report: Raphinha refuses to be transferred, while Barcelona could receive a \u20ac90 M offer from the Saudi Pro League<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Far from acknowledging the failure of his decisions, Bartomeu chose to justify them in a surprising way: \u201cIt\u2019s a shame. Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 has succeeded at PSG. Xavi said he shouldn\u2019t have been let go. Maybe he was signed too young, I don\u2019t know. Griezmann came to lead a generational transition, which I may have handled too late. I should have started it after the defeat in Liverpool, and I did it a year later,\u201d he said, via Cadena SER.<\/p>\n

In case the Blaugranas had pursued the signing of Mbapp\u00e9 in 2017, he likely would have formed an ideal partnership with Lionel Messi, becoming the cornerstone of the team for the future. Moreover, Coutinho and Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 would not have arrived, avoiding the multimillion-dollar failure that shook the club\u2019s financial and sporting stability for years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 has become Real Madrid\u2019s cornerstone after arriving as a marquee signing from PSG. However, the Frenchman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,557,3103,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-17356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-barcelona","8":"tag-barcelona","9":"tag-kylian-mbappe","10":"tag-ousmane-dembele","11":"tag-real-madrid"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}