How Barcelona snubbed €100m Mbappe in order to sign Dembele

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 17 May 2021 22:18 BST
• 2 min read

Barcelona rejected the chance to sign Kylian Mbappe for €100 million in 2017 in order to buy Ousmane Dembele instead, according to former Blaugrana director Javier Bordas.

The Catalan giants were rocked in the summer of 2017 after Neymar sensationally quit the club in order to join Paris Saint-Germain in a world record deal.

Barcelona eventually replaced the Brazilian by splashing out up to €145m on Borussia Dortmund winger Dembele, who has since endured an injury-plagued career at Camp Nou.

But before Dembele signed, Barca passed up the opportunity to buy France superstar Mbappe, then at Monaco.

“When we were trying to sign Dembele, [Barca transfer intermediary] Josep Maria Minguella called me to tell us that Mbappe was within reach,” Bordas told Mundo Deportivo.

“I called his [Mbappe’s] father and he told me he wasn’t going to Real Madrid because they had Cristiano, Benzema and Bale.

“The president of Monaco preferred Mbappe to go to Barca rather than PSG, a direct rival. And for €100M it could have been done.

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“But the technical secretary preferred Dembele and [former sporting director] Pep Segura supported him.

“The explanation was that Mbappe plays for himself and Dembele plays for the team. And since a winger like Ney left, a winger was the preferred option.”

Mbappe thus joined Neymar at PSG later that summer and he has since plundered 97 goals in just 132 games for the Parisians.