Barcelona rejected the chance to sign Vlahovic for €18m last summer
March 7th will mark one year since Joan Laporta won Barcelona’s presidential election and returned to the top job at the Camp Nou, with the Catalan having managed to bring in several new players over the past 12 months. The position where Barcelona are still trying to find a long-term solution, however, remains centre-forward, so it will pain Barça fans to learn that they could have had Dusan Vlahovic in the summer of 2021 for just €18m.
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The Blaugrana’s rejection of this opportunity didn’t take place under Laporta’s regime, however. The story dates back to the summer of 2020, when Josep Maria Bartomeu’s administration received a proposal from Vlahovic’s agent Darko Ristic and from Fiorentina. The offer was for the Serbian striker to play on loan for the 2020/21 campaign with an obligatory purchase option of €18m that would have to be activated in the summer of 2021.
However, Barcelona turned down this offer. It is believed that they were concerned by a dip in form at the end of the 2019/20 season, after the coronavirus lockdown, while Sique Rodríguez Gairí has reported that Barça also had doubts about the player’s physical condition.
👀 Barça were offered Vlahovic in August 2020 on loan with an option to buy. The club had doubts about his physical condition ⏩ @SiqueRodriguez
— FCBarcelonaFl 🇺🇦 (@FCBarcelonaFl) March 6, 2022
Vlahovic: From €18m to €81m
Since Barcelona’s rejection, Vlahovic has gone on to become one of the best centre-forwards in world football. When he moved from Fiorentina to Juventus in January, it wasn’t for €18m. The numbers were now inverted and he moved north for approximately €81m.
The Serbian has hit the ground running at Juventus, scoring three goals across his first four Serie A games for the Old Lady and also scoring just one minute into his Champions League debut, as Juve drew their last 16 first leg 1-1 with Villarreal.
Laporta and his colleagues are now looking to splash €75m on Erling Haaland to bolster Barcelona’s attack, when a talent like Vlahovic could have been signed for so much less. That’s just one further way in which Bartomeu’s administration left their successors to pick up the pieces of a flawed sporting strategy.
