Barcelona hero vs Real Madrid almost left La Masia for Man United – ‘It was a done deal’

When Jordi Roura and Aureli Altimira joined FC Barcelona’s youth academy in 2014, they faced two significant challenges.

Roura was also Tito Vilanova’s assistant during the historic 100-point season while Altimira was also part of that coaching staff. In 2014, they were handed the keys to La Masia and they encountered two major issues right off the bat.

It was concerning two young individuals who find themselves in the Barcelona first-team setup currently, albeit they took two very different paths to make it there – Inaki Pena and Dani Olmo.

Inaki Pena was on his way to Manchester United

Indeed, during an interview with Mundo Deportivo, Roura and Altimira revealed that Inaki Pena, who seems to be enjoying his best moment at Barcelona currently, was on his way to Manchester United when they took over.

“We found out that he had a deal with Manchester United. He had travelled there and everything. It was a done deal,” they revealed.

However, the former Barça academy chiefs managed to convince Pena to continue at the club by presenting him their plan for him.

“But we talked to him, we presented our plan for the future, what we expected from him. To our surprise, we convinced him and he decided to stay,” they remarked.

Praising Pena, Roura and Altimira added: “He’s a spectacular lad, a professional as the top of a pine tree. We are happy that he has been given the opportunity and that he is responding as he is doing.”

As mentioned, Pena is going through his best period at Barcelona, having put in starring displays in recent games – with the performance against Real Madrid being a particular highlight as he denied Kylian Mbappe on multiple occasions to help his team secure a win.

Olmo took a different path

Roura and Altimira could not stop Olmo from leaving La Masia. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Roura and Altimira also spoke about the situation of Dani Olmo, who, unlike Pena, opted to move on from La Masia in 2014 but is now back at Barcelona exactly a decade later.

“We arrived and it was done. His father called me when we came in and I think there was some laziness. He was waiting for a meeting and they hadn’t made things clear,” they revealed.

“We were like crazy to see if we could solve it, improve conditions. But he told us that they had given the word to Dinamo. Fortunately, he didn’t listen to us because he has done very well,” Roura and Altimira concluded.