Manchester City attempted to sign Barcelona’s 17-year-old defensive gem in the summer – report

Over the last few years, since Barcelona’s financial drama initially started running, only two things have been consistent at the club. The results, the performances, the tactics, the coaches, the players, everything has changed, barring these two things.

One, of course, is Barcelona not being able to financially compete in the transfer market, and constantly losing players they would have liked to sign to other clubs. Most recently, for example, Arthur Vermeeren to Atletico Madrid.

Two, and more importantly, the La Masia academy at the height of its powers. Barcelona may not be able to bring in superstars, but they are damn sure still creating them at home, thanks to their academy.

This season alone, Xavi has debuted the likes of Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Hector Fort, Marc Guiu, and Pau Cubarsi, who are all now important part of the team at some level.

While Yamal has rightly taken the spotlight from this bunch, Pau Cubarsi’s performances have been going under the radar. The 17-year-old has been performing well beyond his years, and is considered the brightest La Masia centre-back since Gerard Pique.

Eyes on Cubarsi

As such, it was not surprising to see there were a few top teams across Europe interested in signing Cubarsi early on. One of those, according to a report from SPORT was Manchester City.

Before he renewed his contract with Barcelona, Pep Guardiola’s side had been keeping serious tabs on the Spaniard’s development. They wanted to replicate their formula from 2017, when they signed Eric Garcia from their reserve side.

The ideal mould

It is not difficult to see why City were insisting on signing Cubarsi on Barcelona. He has proven to be the archetype ball-playing centre-back, with impeccable positioning and a knack for reading the game like a seasoned veteran.

He would have fit right into Guardiola’s team. Fortunately, though, his entourage chose to stay at Barcelona over leaving the club. And now he is essentially a part of the first-team, and will likely continue to travel with Xavi’s men till the rest of the season.

Barcelona are also preparing to offer him a new contract as soon as he turned 18 before officially promoting him to the senior squad.