Barcelona were very close to signing Real Madrid star during his youth football days – report

Brahim Diaz was one of the main protagonists of Real Madrid’s victory over RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday as the playmaker scored a stunning goal to settle the contest at the Red Bull Arena.

After the match, Brahim said he was delighted to be at Real Madrid and playing for them. However, things could have turned out very differently for the 24-year-old attacking midfielder.

Barcelona were close to signing Brahim in the past

Indeed, as per Jaume Mercet of SPORT, Brahim had almost signed for Barcelona when he was still a youth footballer.

The Blaugrana already had an agreement with the Spaniard’s father and the player was delighted to be able to sign. The person in charge of managing the operation was Barça’s director of grassroots football, Albert Puig.

At the time, he had signed great talents such as Abel Ruiz and Ansu Fati, and Brahim was one of the players he had been chasing for a long time.

The current Real Madrid star was playing for Málaga at the time and Barcelona had their eyes on him for some time. The big moment came when he was only 12 years old, and Barça had the deal in the bag. There was an agreement with his father and Brahim wanted to come.

However, at that time, Malaga owner Abdullah Al-Thani intervened. When he found out that Barça could take Brahim, who had stood out a lot in the most popular youth tournaments, he made a dizzying offer to the player’s father.

It was then that Brahim’s father told Barça that he could not say no to Malaga’s proposal.

Barça had to accept the situation as it was, but after a while, Manchester City came and swooped the player away in January 2014. After spending five years there, Brahim made his way back to Spain in 2019, signing for Real Madrid.