Barcelona made several bids for Manchester United star Victor Lindelof, according to his agent.
The La Liga champions are said to have chased the Swedish defender, 25, after missing out on Matthijs De Ligt this summer. Barcelona were beaten to the Dutch wonderkid, 19, by Juventus in a surprise move, with the Spaniards favourites to land him all summer.
But now Lindelof‘s agent Hasan Cetinkaya has revealed Barcelona instead turned their attention to the United star. And he even went on to say he’s not surprised Barca were interested, as he was United‘s “best player” last season.
Cetinkaya said: “Lindelof was perhaps Man Utd’s best player last season, and there was a lot of interest from clubs that are even better [than United] at the moment. When Matthijs De Ligt chose Juventus, Victor was pronounced Barcelona’s first choice. His way of playing, his DNA, is very close to Barcelona’s way of playing. He is one of the world’s best centre-backs with the ball at his feet, and Barcelona wanted him. That’s how it was. I can talk about that now.
“They contacted Ed Woodward on numerous occasions with concrete offers. I had a meeting with their transfer manager, Matt Judge, to try to make a transition. But they just said: ‘There is no chance. Victor is one of our best players’. It ended up being a new agreement instead, even though Victor actually had three years left. Usually, they do not make extensions with players who have so long left on the contract, but when there was an interest at this level they had no other option.”
Lindelof signed a new five-year contract at Old Trafford earlier this month as reward for his solid form last season.
Cetinkaya also revealed Lindelof came close to heading back to the Swedish top-flight during his time at Benfica – before he intervened.
The agent claimed: “Victor wanted to become a world-class player, but worked with an agent who wanted to take him home to Allsvenskan. There was a clear agreement between Malmo and Benfica – only missing the player’s signature. But then I came in after flying five hours from Istanbul and declared that he would ditch both the agreement and his agent. Within a few years, I guaranteed that he would play at world-class level – and everything has gone to plan. It is a completely indescribable journey. Now the future is secure for both him and his family.”
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