How Raiola ruined Barça's last-ditch attempt to sign de Ligt

BeSoccer 6 years ago 5.7k
Raiola quickly aborted Barça's late attempt to steal de Ligt. EFE

According to a story in 'Mundo Deportivo', Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu called Matthijs de Ligt and made one last effort to convince the defender not to join Juventus, but agent Mino Raiola moved quickly to reject this possibility.

Despite everything seemingly being set for the Dutch defender to join Juventus, Bartomeu made a desperate last-minute call to the player, with the intention of meeting with him and trying once more to convince him.

However, having found out of his intentions, Raiola spoke to Bartomeu to remind him that there would be no meeting unless the club would meet de Ligt's annual 10 million Euro salary demands. 

Unhappy with the Barça president, Raiola also told Bartomeu that the agent fee for the signing had to be at least 11 million Euros.

This was very much a sticking point for Barcelona, whose board believe that a 19 year-old footballer who is just breaking onto the scene shouldn't be earning more than some of the club's top players.

Now, all that is left to clear up is when de Ligt's signing for Juventus will be made official.

 

Mentioned in the news story

Eredivisie
Barcelona
Matthijs De Ligt