Madrid sports tabloid As claims that Manchester City right back defender and Argentinian international Pablo Zabaleta (23) was one of the main transfer targets of Barcelona this summer.
Barcelona would have offered the then Espanyol player a four year (plus an extra optional year) contract worth 2,2 million euro gross a year but Zabaleta rejected the offer up to four times.
Espanyol was not very willing to sell but let the player make a decision. Although he could join his close friend Messi, Zabaleta decided not to sign for Barcelona because of the rivalry between the two teams.
In the end, Barcelona transferred Sevilla right back Daniel Alves and in late August Zabaleta moved to the English Premier League. The Argentinian signed a five-year deal with Manchester City, that paid the buyout clause of 8 million euro°.
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Saturday, 13 September 2008
Zabaleta rejected Barcelona offers
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3 comments:
8 million euro =
13 million us dollar
6,5 million british pound
Though the price would have been a bargain, I'd take Alves over Zabaleta all day and all night.
But yes, that Espanyol/Barca thing is pretty ugly. I'd say that a player would transfer to Barca from the Evil Empire before one would transfer from Espanyol to Barca.
Especially since Barcelona apparently didn't let Saviola join Espanyol three years ago (he went on loan to Sevilla instead), the Espanyol president is still furious like hell.
But of course there was a clause so they could have paid that if the player agreed. If the Alves transfer would have failed this was probably by far the best option on the market.
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