'I rejected Barcelona because of Ibrahimovic treatment'

Patrick Power 7 years ago 9.9k
Gameiro and Ibrahimovic at PSG. Twitter

Barcelona pushed to sign this striker last summer, but he has revealed he turned down the move to avoid a similar situation to that endured by Ibrahimovic.

Kevin Gameiro secured a move from Sevilla to Atletico Madrid after much speculation linking the French striker to the Camp Nou. With the striker signing for Simeone's side, Barcelona went for Paco Alcacer to be the first substitute for Messi, Suarez and Neymar.

The current Atletico centre-forward told Le10 Sport: 'This summer, I had the choice between going to Barça or coming to Atlético. But what do you want me to do at Barça? There’s Neymar, Messi and Suarez', he admitted.

The striker has now confirmed that he did not want to join Enrique's side to be on the bench. He has likened his situation to Zlatan Ibrahimovic's, who did not enjoy a main role in Guardiola's team, with the likes of Messi, Alexis Sanchez, Henry and Pedro all on the team.

'There are players like that who want to play all matches, who refuse to go out even ten minutes from the end. With Ibra, that’s what happened', said Gameiro, who has scored 12 goals in La Liga.

Mentioned in the news story

Atlético
Barcelona
Z. Ibrahimovic
Kévin Gameiro