Barcelona Wanted To Sign Aguero Before Suarez
Barcelona’s former sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta has revealed Sergio Aguero was their top transfer target in 2014, only for Manchester City to reject their approach.
Luis Suarez signed for Barca in July 2014 from Liverpool for a reported fee in the region of €94m, but Aguero was top of the Catalans’ shopping list before Manchester City rejected their approach.
Speaking to Marca on Sunday, Zubizarreta explained how Barca initially went for the Manchester City striker, before quickly turning their attentions to the then-Liverpool star, despite his bite on Giorgio Chiellini in the 2014 World Cup still fresh in the memory.
“Our first choice wasn’t Suarez. He knows this,” he told Marca.
“In the winter [of 2013], we considered signing Aguero, but it didn’t work out. After that, without doubt, Luis Suarez was our only objective.
“During the negotiation process, the incident with Chiellini happened. The issue put off many of the clubs who wanted him. His character was questioned and the severity of his ban had not been known yet. That was when I thought it was time to accelerate his signing.
“I liked everything about him: he was not static, knew his way around the outside of the box and gave us a profile which we did not have. From the outset his willingness to sign for Barca was huge.”
