Revealed: Chelsea, Barcelona & Bayern all FAILED in summer pursuit of transfer listed star

Cameron Smith

Updated: 11 Sept 2023 12:12 BST
4 min read

Mauricio Pochettino, Chelsea, 2023/24 — © ProShots

Chelsea, Barcelona and Bayern Munich all made a late push to sign Paris Saint-Germain and Italy midfielder Marco Verratti before Transfer Deadline Day, according to reports, but failed in their attempts to land the 30-year-old.

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Verratti is now set to depart the Parc des Princes to join Qatari side Al-Arabi after a verbal agreement was reached between all parties. PSG will earn €45 million from the sale, as per Fabrizio Romano.

Barcelona added both Ilkay Gundogan (free) and Oriol Romeu (€3.4m) during the summer window, but Xavi reportedly wanted to bring Verratti through the door too.

The Blaugrana had previously negotiated with PSG regarding the sale of Ousmane Dembele to the Parisians, but they were unsuccessful in their attempts to bring Verratti to Camp Nou.

That is according to L’Equipe, via Mundo Deportivo, who have reported that Barcelona, Chelsea and Bayern Munich all made a play to sign the Italian on loan, but were unsuccessful as PSG wanted a permanent sale.

The Parisians have now all but sealed Verratti’s departure for €45m, something that wasn’t offered by either of the three aforementioned clubs.

Chelsea and Bayern wanted Verratti on loan

During the summer transfer window, Chelsea spent over €450m on new signings, including €116m on Moises Caicedo from Brighton & Hove Albion, €62.1m on Romeo Lavia from Southampton and €27m on Lesley Ugochukwu from Stade Rennais.

© ProShots - Barcelona, Chelsea and Bayern all wanted to sign Marco Verratti on loan

As for Bayern, their hopes of signing Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha were thwarted on Deadline Day as the Londoners pulled out of a sale due to not finding a suitable replacement. The Portuguese international has signalled his intent to join the Bavarians in January, however.

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino and Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel both worked with Verratti at PSG and were keen on a reunion with the Italy international.

But, PSG held out for a permanent deal and have been successful in that mission thanks to Al-Arabi.