What if Barcelona had signed Mbappe instead of Dembele in 2017?

Stefan Bienkowski

• 19 Oct 2021 20:29 BST
• 7 min read

Former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has revealed that the club opted for Ousmane Dembele instead of signing Kylian Mbappe in 2017.

The Spanish giants made waves in the transfer market that year when they paid a remarkable sum of money for Dembele, by eventually forking over no less than €135 million for the French winger.

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Of course, another player that was potentially for sale that summer was none other than Mbappe, who eventually left Monaco to join Paris Saint-Germain on loan that summer, before joining the club on a permanent deal a year later.

Now, with the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear that Mbappe would have been the smarter signing, but as Bartomeu points out, Barca did have their reasons for favouring Dembele that summer.

"[Mbappe's] signing was on the table, but the coaches preferred Dembele because they wanted a player to open the field," he said in an interview with Marca.

"Some of us have not met expectations, players who have cost a lot of money, but these things happen in football.

"When these two players were signed, they were applauded by everyone. Coutinho came because Andres Iniesta was going. He was the best player in the Premier League. Dembele came because of Neymar's departure."

But what if Barca had picked up Mbappe instead of Dembele that summer?

How Mbappe would have worked at Barca

While it may seem obvious that Mbappe would have become a world star at Barca, it’s worth remembering that at that time the Catalan giants had an undroppable striker in the form of Lionel Messi and the young French striker may have been pushed out wide for game time.

Indeed, as the former Barca president suggested, the Spanish side desperately needed a winger that summer and signing another No.9 may not have done the club or indeed Mbappe any favours.

However, that’s not to say Mbappe wouldn’t have worked in Spain. Although Barca wanted a winger like Dembele, the former Monaco star would have surely played off Messi with very little difficulty and could have spared the club €120m by saving them from signing Antoine Griezmann the following year.