FC Barcelona could have signed the fastest centre-back in the Premier League

Despite the absence of Ronald Araújo and Andreas Christensen, FC Barcelona has achieved defensive solidity in the great duo formed by Pau Cubarsí and Iñigo Martínez, increasingly consolidated in the centre of the defence as an insurmountable 'wall' that keeps the team at the top of LaLiga. However, the Catalans could have counted on another player in their ranks who could have brought even more quality to the position.

This was confessed by Bojan Krkic, father of the former footballer and former scout for the Barcelona club, in an interview given on 'El Bar' on 'Cadena Ser'. According to the father of the current coordinator of the Barça football area, Barça could have counted on Micky van de Ven, a 23-year-old centre-back who has established himself as one of the best in the world in the position.

Krkic revealed that he went to the Netherlands to watch a Dutch second division match between Volendam and AZ Alkmaar with the aim of analysing Kenzo Goudmijn, a midfielder from the second team mentioned above. However, the Spurs defender ended up catching his eye. "They told me that he was growing a lot, so I went to see him at the next match. That same week, they did physical tests in training and it turned out that the centre-back, van de Ven, had a higher speed than Kylian Mbappé," he commented.

Barça ruled out signing Van de Ven

Bojan, surprised by the player's level, called Planes and Abidal, who were then in charge of Barça's sporting direction, to undertake his signing. However, the operation, valued at a figure less than three million euros, was not carried out due to "criteria" issues. Wolfsburg eventually signed him for 8 million euros and just two years later Tottenham signed him for a fixed 40 million.

In London he has really exploded, becoming a regular in the Netherlands national team and leading the Spurs defence. His value continues to grow and is now close to 50 million euros, as well as establishing himself as the fastest defender in the history of the Premier League, as the English league explained on its website.

"Van de Ven covered 10.38 metres per second. When Usain Bolt recorded the current world record for 100 metres in 2009, his average speed was 10.44 metres per second, or 37.58 km/h," the league said, making it clear that Van de Ven is one of the most promising footballers today and a player that Barça will surely keep an eye on again in the future.