‘Not Barca’s DNA’ – Why Barcelona rejected Haaland

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 2 min read

Barcelona rejected the chance to sign Norway wonderkid Erling Braut Haaland because they believed the striker did not possess “the Barca DNA”.

Former Barca director Javier Bordas gave an explosive interview to Mundo Deportivo where he revealed that the club snubbed Kylian Mbappe in favour of signing Ousmane Dembele back in 2017.

Bordas also noted that Barca could have bought attacking sensation Haaland before he joined Borussia Dortmund from RB Salzburg in January 2020.

“Why was Haaland not signed? Because they [Barcelona] told me that he was not a player with the Barça DNA,” Bordas said.

The ex-director also revealed that the season before he recommended that the club buy Alvaro Morata on loan, but that Barcelona signed Kevin-Prince Boateng instead.

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“A good player who would have given Luis Suarez competition was Morata,” he added.

“I talked to [former president] Josep Maria Bartomeu and he told me that he liked him very much. I did some work on him and the truth is that it was possible to bring him on loan, but the technical secretary dismissed it and Boateng came.

“I have recommended many more signings. Haaland, Ferran Torres, Dani Olmo.

“I understand that Bartomeu paid attention to the technical secretary, but the truth is that these players could have come.” Haaland has been a big hit since joining Dortmund, scoring 27 goals in just 29 games for the Bundesliga giants.