The reason why the signing of an AC Milan star for Barça fell through

FC Barcelona could have strengthened their midfield last summer with the arrival of Tijjani Reijnders. The current AC Milan player was close to wearing the Barça shirt, as revealed by his father, Martin Reijnders, in an interview with the Dutch newspaper 'Algemeen Dagblad', where he confessed to having maintained contacts with the Catalans in the 2023 transfer market.

"I only had direct contact with Barcelona, ​​talking to the sporting director, Deco. I even checked his profile picture to make sure it was really him," began the midfielder's father, adding that "there was also interest from English clubs, but I only spoke to them through intermediaries."

However, the player's father advised him not to accept the offer from Barcelona because he would not have the prominence he was looking for, which led to his signing by the 'rossoneri' team for 20 million euros from AZ Alkmaar. "I advised my son to reject Barcelona, ​​there he would have been a substitute and he would have run the risk of failing, as has happened to many others," he said.

Reijnders could have been Sergio Busquets' replacement

Although Martin confessed to having felt flattered by the club's interest, they decided to 'pass' on the Barça proposal because they "were looking for a replacement for Busquets, and I told my son that he doesn't have that profile. He's not that type of player with the characteristics they were looking for. Sooner or later he would have ended up on the bench, becoming another player who doesn't succeed abroad," he concluded.

The Dutch midfielder eventually made his way to San Siro, where he is already a key player in Paulo Fonseca's team. Meanwhile, the Catalans ended up signing Oriol Romeu to bolster the pivot, although the player returned to Girona this summer due to his time at the Spotify Camp Nou not meeting expectations.