Former La Masia midfielder confirms Barcelona were interested in him last summer: “It was too late”

It will be a special evening for a certain Sergi Altimira as Real Betis prepare for their home game against Barcelona. Being a former La Masia player, Altimira will square off against his old team and ahead of the contest, the 22-year-old expressed that he has very good memories of his days with the youth team.

“Very good memories, in the end, I learned a lot, much of what I know I learned in the youth categories of Barcelona,” he told MARCA. 

“There you saw your idols training or playing and you said ‘let’s see if one day I can reach professional football’. And now that you confront them because it is an extra motivation,” he added.

It is to be noted that Altimira has a deeper connection with Barcelona. Apart from the midfielder himself, his father worked at the club as an assistant to Pep Guardiola as well as Tito Vilanova.

So when asked about how it felt to leave a team like Barcelona, he explained,

“Well, when they tell you, you’re not happy. I was clear that outside of Barça the world doesn’t end, football doesn’t end. I tried to find another team where they would trust me to be able to exploit my virtues and thanks to that I’m where I am now.”

Altimira was asked if since his father was working very closely with the first team, did it work in his favour at La Masia.

“The truth is that neither advantage nor disadvantage. My father was in the first team that won all possible titles and then as coordinator. I continued doing my thing, he did not make the decisions that were my responsibility, so I took him in the most natural way possible.”

Barcelona’s interest in Altimira 

Sergi Altimira was a subject of interest for Barcelona. (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)

Altimira signed for Betis in the summer of 2023 from Getafe and it is said that before his move, Barcelona had been expressing interest.

Confirming the same, the 22-year-old defensive midfielder said that while it was true, he did join Barcelona because he wanted to play for Betis.

“When I was at Sabadell, Barça was interested, as you said, in the clause and so on to play in the reserve team. This year they were also interested, but it was too late and I was clear that I wanted to wear the green and white.”

The young defensive midfielder revealed that among the plethora of stars Barcelona have produced, former captain Sergio Busquets was his idol and he, in fact, had a photo of him at his home.

“My idol was Busquets. When I was little I had a photo of him at home with the signature and so on on the nightstand. 

“I paid a lot of attention to him because apart from being from the same position he had a physical appearance similar to mine. 

“Very thin in appearance, but with the ball at his feet he is very intelligent and knows what is going to happen at any moment and that is why I liked him a lot,” he explained.

Barcelona’s strength is their possession

He also admitted that he can see Barcelona are not enjoying a great run of form at the moment, but given the quality they have, it’s only a matter of time before they get back to their best.

“Yes, it is true that they are not at their best moment now, but you can never consider Barça dead because, with the quality of players they have, they can beat you at any time. I believe that we do not have to relax and that there is to go for the game.”

Lastly, he also talked about the strength of this Barcelona team but when quipped about the weakness, he decided to stay quiet.

“Strengths are clearly when they have the ball, that in the end they live off of that and the weak points they have… I think I keep them to myself so that they are not discovered,” he said.