Transfer history: Cruyff was sold to Real Madrid

Speaking to the Spanish edition of monthly men's magazine Esquire, former Barcelona player and manager Johan Cruijff (62) explains that he was close to joining Real Madrid before he signed for Barcelona in the summer of 1973:

"Ajax had sold me to Real Madrid without me knowing about it and that's why I took another direction. I don't like things being arranged behind my back. I like to fight and it always has turned out well."

Read more:
Transfer history: Marquez was close to Madrid
Transfer history: Harry Kewell (Leeds)
Transfer history: Iniesta had deal with Madrid

Cesc talks about transfer to Arsenal

Speaking at an Arsenal members' 'Questions and Answers' session at the club's Emirates Stadium, Arsenal midfielder and Spanish international Cesc Fàbregas (22) told what it was like to leave Barcelona and join Arsenal:

"I was very young and was still playing for the Barcelona youth team. Arsène Wenger had never been to see me play, but after I signed, Arsenal's Spanish scout told me that they had come to see me 44 times.

When I came to talk with Arsenal aged 16, Arsène was the one who came to see me. He had cut his holiday to come to speak with me, and at 16 it had a big impact on my decision."

Read more:
Arsenal willing to sell Cesc
Mascherano or Cesc

Transfer history: Marquez was close to Madrid

Catalan sports paper Sport reports that Barcelona player Rafael Márquez (30) was close to joining Real Madrid in the summer of 2002.

Márquez confirmed the story to the paper: "I was very, but really very close to moving to Real Madrid, can you imagine that? It didn't happen and thanks to God I'm still here." One year later, Márquez joined Barcelona.

The player's agent Enrique Nieto explained why the transfer didn't go through in the end: "The truth is that it didn't happen because they had tactical doubts. They couldn't decide on the question if Rafa was better as central defender or as defensive midfielder and the deal was was cancelled. That's how life can go..."

The paper also reports, based upon statement of the agent, that Real Madrid and Barcelona were already interested in Márquez when he was still playing in Mexico. The two clubs were following the player and drew up scouting reports but none of them took the decision of signing him. Márquez in the end signed with French league club Monaco in the summer of 1999.

Read more:
Transfer history: Harry Kewell (Leeds)
Transfer history: Iniesta had deal with Madrid
Transfer history: Cristian Karembeu (Sampdoria)

Transfer history: Harry Kewell (Leeds)

Galatasaray attacker Harry Kewell (30) has said in an interview with his club's official television channel that he rejected the chance to move to Barcelona in the summer of 2003, when he was playing for Leeds and Frank Rijkaard was appointed as new Barcelona coach:

"While he was at Barcelona, Rijkaard asked me to transfer there. It would have been a great event to play for Barcelona and to be part of that team. But I preferred Liverpool. I've rejected many bids to stay at Liverpool. It was my decision."

Read more:
Transfer history: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)
Which players are on Guardiola's list?
Transfer history: Cristian Karembeu (Sampdoria)


Watch a video of Kewell here:

Transfer history: Iniesta had deal with Madrid

Catalan sports paper Sport reports that former Real Madrid presidential candidate Juan Palacios claims that he had a deal with Barcelona attacker and Spanish international Andrés Iniesta (25) to join Real Madrid if he would win the elections of 2006.

Palacios lost from former Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón with around 250 votes but could have been declared the winner if the votes by postal mail would have been counted.

Read more:
Transfer history: Cristian Karembeu (Sampdoria)
Next Madrid president keeps pushing for Iniesta
Transfer history: Xavi was close to Milan

Transfer history: Guus Hiddink (PSV Eindhoven)

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has said at a press conference that Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink (52) was one of the candidates to become the new Barcelona head coach in the summer of 2003:

"I've always liked Guus Hiddink for his attitude and his way of being. I remember that, when he was the manager of Valencia, he ordered to withdraw a nazi flag with a swastika sign from the stands.

It's a coach of the Dutch school and a lover of total football. We've always liked him. When we were negotiating with Rijkaard, Hiddink was coaching the national team of South Corea (note: this is not correct, he was the manager of PSV Eindhoven in 2003) and he was one of our options if Rijkaard would have said no."

Catalan sports paper Sport nevertheless claims that Hiddink was actually the preferred option of the new board that came to power after the elections of 2003. Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain and then Barcelona sports vice-president Sandro Rosell would have met twice with Hiddink but the Dutchman asked a too high salary. And with Ajax asking a fee to let Ronald Koeman go, it was in the end Frank Rijkaard who was appointed as new Barcelona manager.

Hiddink, who had joined PSV in 2002, stayed with the Dutch club until the summer of 2006, combining the job during his last season with coaching the Australian national team. After the World Cup in Germany, Hiddink became the coach of the Russian national team.

Read more:
Transfer history: Ferguson (Manchester United)
Chelsea will try to sign Alves this summer
Transfer history: Cristian Karembeu (Sampdoria)

Transfer history: Cristian Karembeu (Sampdoria)

Former French football player Cristian Karembeu (38) talked in an interview with Spanish sports paper Don Balón about the fight for his services between Barcelona and Real Madrid before he joined the latter in December 1997:

"The fight between Real Madrid and Barcelona to sign me was total madness. It was the first time that two big clubs wanted to sign me and at that time I wasn't aware of the impact of the whole matter. I only thought about playing football and nothing else.

I had played the European championships in 1996 and I wanted to continue in that line. That fight put a little brake on my career since Sampdoria, my club at the time, excluded me from the squad and I went through a bad time.

Would I have preferred to join Barcelona? Let’s see, at that time the possibilities were playing for Barca or playing for Real Madrid. I chose Barça, I’m sorry: Madrid, but I had a lot of respect for Barcelona's executives when they came to see me. Barcelona is a great club and now they look strong and victorious. Everyone wants to play at Barça, a club that – by its culture – likes to offer good football to the people."

Read more:
Transfer history: Denilson (Palmeiras)
Transfer history: Enzo Francescoli
Transfer history: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

Transfer history: Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan)

Asked about why he never left his club, AC Milan midfielder and Italian international Andrea Pirlo (29) has said in an interview with Italian television channel Sky that he always preferred to stay despite interest from teams like Barcelona (read more here) and Chelsea:

"Yes, there has always been the possibility to move to another team, but I preferred to stay here because I think that Milan is one of the most important clubs in the world and that I have here the chance to win something every year."

Read more:
Pirlo rejects Barcelona offer
Transfer history: Xavi was close to Milan
Agent Ronaldinho doesn't exclude Barcelona return
Transfer history: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

Agent Trezeguet hints at Barcelona move

Asked about the rumours linking Juventus forward David Trezeguet (31) with a summer exit, the player's agent Antonio Caliendo has said in an interview with Italian radio station Radio Kiss Kiss that he's convinced that Barcelona will again try to sign the French striker this summer:

"There is a lot of interest for him from England and Spain. It's the same as the last four or five years, we have lived the same situation during every transfer period. But in the end, Juventus has always managed to convince the player to stay.

Barcelona had in fact already kind of bought him three years ago but then Capello intervened and vetoed the move, which lead Juve to put pressure on the player, also through his family. Barcelona is certainly still interested in Trezeguet and has the intention to sign him. I think that they will try again this summer and that they could move soon. In one month, we can expect some news in that perspective."

In an interview with French sports paper L'Equipe, Caliendo repeated that Barcelona could be interested but that Trezeguet is now only concentrating on his club: "Over the last weeks I have received phone calls from English and Spanish clubs for David. But I've replied to them that David is at this moment focused on Juve and the Italian league."

Read more:
Guardiola called Trezeguet this summer
Thinking about Eto'o-Trezeguet swap
Deal with Trezeguet


Watch a video of Trezeguet here:

Transfer history: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

Juventus goalkeeper and Italian international Gianluigi Buffon (31) has said in an interview with Italian televison channel Sky that when he left Parma in 2001, he was close to joining Barcelona:

"I chose Juve because my agent, Silvano Martina, and my father advised me to do that. Back then, I had to choose between Roma, Barcelona and Juve.

At the start my friendship with Totti and Vito Scala [Roma physical coach] made me prefer Roma, where Capello had just arrived and he seemed to start an era of an invincible team. I remember that Silvano and my father went there to talk with president Sensi but Roma took a step back and in the end they preferred to sign Pellizzoli, whom they could get for a lower transfer fee but who was at that time one of the most promising goalkeepers.

With Barcelona we had serious negotiations but right when Silvano Martina was going to Spain to close the deal, Moggi [Juventus general director at the time] called him and the Agnelli family got involved. I had a great desire to win an Italian league and my father told me that Juve hadn't won the title for five years but that they would again win it in the next two years. In the end I followed his advice and it has been a good choice."

Read more:
Transfer history: Xavi was close to Milan
Transfer history: Denilson (Palmeiras)
Transfer history: Francescoli

Transfer history: Xavi was close to Milan

Barcelona attacking midfielder and Spanish international Xavi (28) has revealed in an interview with Catalan radio station Catalunya Ràdio that he was close to joining AC Milan one decade ago:

"After winning the under-20 World Cup in 1999, I was staying with the under-21 national team and I remember I signed authorizations for my agent and my father to negotiate with Milan.

We talked with Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani and he offered me twice the salary I earned at Barça. He told me about the team they were building, that I would be a fixed starter...

But my family, and especially my mother who was the one who was most against me leaving, was decisive in my final decision to stay. Of course, it was also my dream to triumph at Barça one day."

Read more:
Transfer history: Ferguson (Manchester United)
Xavi is top target for Manchester United
Transfer history: Denilson (Palmeiras)

Transfer history: Denilson (Palmeiras)

In an interview with Spanish football weekly paper Don Balón, Palmeiras left winger and former Brazilian international Denilson (31), who played for Betis Sevilla from 1998 until 2005, has said that he was very close to sign for Barcelona in 1998:

"When I was playing for São Paulo, one day I went to sleep thinking that I would join Barcelona and when I woke up the next day I was a Betis player.

The first official proposal I received came from Barcelona. The negotiations were almost finalized. The two presidents had reached an agreement and informed me about it. Everything was agreed upon but in the end the deal was cancelled because of a little detail, I think they couldn't agree on who should pay the taxes on the transfer operation.

Almost immediately after, Betis appeared with a proposal that São Paulo couldn't refuse. It was also for me a financially very interesting offer and I decided to accept it."

Read more:
Transfer history: Ferguson (Manchester United)
Transfer history: Francescoli
Transfer history: Iaquinta (Juventus)

Transfer history: Francescoli

While telling that he was close to joining Barcelona back in 1986 when he was coaching Scottish club Aberdeen (read more here), Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson also explained in the same interview with British tabloid The Sunday Express that Barcelona kept in touch the following years and that they asked his advice when the club was considering the transfer of Uruguayan playmaker Enzo Francescoli. Given the time indications it can be assumed that this happened in the late eighties.

Enzo Francescoli (47), the childhood hero of former FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane, is the most legendary Uruguayan player of the last decades. In 1986 he came to Europe and played for three seasons with French club Racing Club de Paris. After one more year at Marseille, he left in 1990 for the Italian league, where he played with Cagliari and Torino.

Read more:
Transfer history: Alex Ferguson
Transfer history: Zinedine Zidane
Youth: Diego Polenta (Danubio)

Transfer history: Ferguson (Manchester United)

After the manager himself told last week that he was close to joining Barcelona in 1986 (read more here), Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson (66) was later on a second time not far away from the Barcelona bench.

When Barcelona president Joan Gaspart was looking for a successor to Llorenç Serra Ferrer in the summer of 2001, Ferguson was one of the main candidates. But in the end the Barcelona board didn't push that option through and preferred to sign caretaker Carles Rexach, former Barcelona player and at that time member of the Barcelona technical staff, as the head coach for the 2001-2002 season.

Read more:
Transfer history: Zidane
Ex-Barça: Llorenç Serra Ferrer
Transfer history: Iaquinta (Juventus)

Read all transfer history stories here

Transfer history: Piqué

Manchester United central defender Gerard Piqué (21) has explained in an interview with Catalan sports paper Sport why he left the Barcelona youth academy in the summer of 2004:

"I was playing with Barcelona B in the Spanish third division. Manchester United came to find me and, like some others, I thought that if I would stay, I would spend the next years in the third division. The first team just seemed so far away at that moment."


Read more:
Piqué tempted by Barcelona return
Transfer history: Alex Ferguson (Manchester United)
Transfer history: Cesc

Transfer history: Gudjohnsen

Barcelona attacker and Iceland international Eidur Gudjohnsen (29) has admitted in an interview with Catalan sports paper Sport that Manchester United tried to transfer him when he was playing with Chelsea:

"It's true that before I came to Barcelona, Manchester United was interested in signing me on a couple of occasions. It's a great honour that manager Ferguson wanted me because he's a living football legend, a special person who has done incredible things. Chelsea didn't really wanted to let me go to a direct rival in the first place and when they told me that Barcelona were interested in a transfer, they were always my first option."

Eidur Gudjohnsen played for Chelsea between 2000 and 2006. The player joined Barcelona in the summer of 2006 for a transfer fee of 12 million euro°.


Read more:
Transfer history: Alex Ferguson
Newcastle interested in Gudjohnsen
Transfer history: Trezeguet

Transfer history: Ferguson (Manchester United)

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has told in an interview with British tabloid The Sunday Express that he was close to joining Barcelona back in 1986 when he was coaching Scottish club Aberdeen:

"I was interviewed for the Barcelona job when I was at Aberdeen. Terry Venables was in charge at the time but he was going to leave. He had recommended me and I met the Barcelona president in the Connaught Hotel London. Terry ended up staying and I always wonder what would have happened if he hadn't changed his mind. Barcelona actually kept in touch and even phoned to ask my opinion on Uruguayan playmaker Enzo Francescoli. I have never been tempted since. I have all the fulfillment I need with Manchester United. Anyway, it's difficult to say whether my methods would have worked in another country."


Sir Alex Ferguson (66) was the manager of Aberdeen from 1978 until 1986. He joined Manchester United in November 1986.

Terry Venables (65) arrived in Barcelona from English club Queens Park Rangers in the summer of 1984, replacing the Argentinian César Luis Menotti. Under Venables, Barcelona won one Spanish league title in 1985 and a League cup in 1986. In May of 1986, Barcelona lost the European Cup final to Steaua Bucarest on penalties. Venables was discharged in November 1987 and replaced by Luis Aragonés.


Read more:
Transfer history: Zidane and Henry
Transfer history: Cesc
Transfer history: Edu (Valencia)

Read all transfer history stories here.

Transfer history: Cruijff

Former Barcelona player Johan Cruijff told in an interview with Catalan radio station Catalunya Ràdio that an armed raid on his house during the 1977-1978 season was one of the reasons that made him leave Barcelona in the summer of 1978:

"I had serious problems at the end of my period as a player in Barcelona. At a certain moment I had a gun pointed at my head, I was tied up, my wife was tied up, the children were there in the apartment... From that moment, the children had to go to school under police protection, the police slept in my house for three or four months, I went to the matches with a bodyguard. These are moments when you realize that there are other values in life."

Johan Cruijff played for Barcelona from 1973 until 1978. In his first season he helped the club win the first league title since 1960. In the summer of 1978 he signed for the Los Angeles Aztecs.


Read more:
Transfer history: Zidane
Transfer history: Iaquinta (Juventus)
Transfer history: Cesc

Read all transfer history stories here.

Transfer history: Zidane, Henry and Blanc

In the book 'Wie is Johan Cruijff? Insiders duiden het orakel' (Who is Johan Cruijff? Insiders explain the oracle) by Dutch writers Mik Schots and Jan Luitzen, former Barcelona manager Johan Cruijff (60) talks about how Barcelona president Josep Lluís Núñez didn't let him buy any more players at the end of his term:

"In January or February of the year 1996, I had a verbal agreement with Zinédine Zidane and Thierry Henry and a few other players with whom I had a good personal relationship because we had the same ideas on the way of playing and because our characters matched. When I had to leave Barcelona, I told them: 'Take your own decision. If you still want to come to Barcelona, you should do it. If you don't want to come, you shouldn't do it.' From the three or four French players who would have come and play with us, Laurent Blanc was the only one who had already signed when I left. The others decided not to come."


French playmaker Zinédine Zidane (35) was at that time playing for Bordeaux. In the end, Zidane moved in the summer of 1996 to Juventus. French forward Thierry Henry (30) was playing for Monaco. In January of 1999, Henry left for Juventus. Henry later came to Barcelona in the summer of 2007.

French central defender Laurent Blanc (42) joined Barcelona from Auxere in the summer of 1996. After just one year, Blanc returned to France and joined Olympique Marseille because he wanted to play as a regular in view of the 1998 World Cup. In 1996 Blanc won the Spanish Super Cup with Barcelona.

(read all Barcelona transfer history stories here --- or just read the stories of Luis Fabiano Cesc Ben Arfa)

Transfer history: Iaquinta (Juventus)

Juventus striker Vincenzo Iaquinta (28) has talked about the past interest of Barcelona to sign him while he was playing for Udinese (read more here). In the end the two clubs couldn't find an agreement. On football site Goal, the Italian international is quoted as saying:

"It was completely true that Barca were interested, but I have no regrets. In the end, even by staying in Udine I managed to get into the Champions League, I won the World Cup and then earned myself a place here at Juventus. Maybe on a personal level it would have been interesting to play abroad. If I ever talk about it again it will be a long time down the road as I am so happy at Juventus and I hope to stay here for a good deal longer."

Vincenzo Iaquinta played for Udinese from 2000 to 2007. In the summer of 2007 he signed for Juventus.

(read more transfer history stories here)