Barcelona reportedly made an attempt to sign Ferran Torres from Manchester City in the summer but were met with a firm rejection by the English giants.
According to a report from SPORT, Barcelona tried to secure the transfer of Spanish international forward Ferran Torres during the summer transfer window but found their advances rebuffed by Manchester City.
Torres came through the youth ranks at Barcelona’s La Liga rivals Valencia and established himself as one of the most exciting young attackers in Spain. This prompted Manchester City to make a swoop for the 21-year-old during the summer last year. And while he made a fine start to life in England, Torres was a bit in and out of the starting XI under Pep Guardiola.
Indeed, he featured in just 36 games across all competitions in his debut campaign, starting just 15 Premier League matches, although he did finish with a tally of 13 goals and three assists, which was enough to earn him a spot in the Spain squad for the UEFA Euro 2020.
However, given that he was not a regular starter at the Etihad Stadium, Barcelona thought of capitalising on the situation by swooping in for the ex-Valencia ace. The Catalans were in the market for attacking reinforcements following the shock exit of superstar Lionel Messi, but the club’s poor financial health prevented them from going big.
As a result, they were discussing possible loan-to-buy options or exchange deals, with the report claiming that several such talks were held with Manchester City surrounding quite a few players like Aymeric Laporte, Bernardo Silva, Sergi Roberto and Antoine Griezmann.
Now, it has been revealed that Torres, too, had been on the agenda for Barcelona when they met with Manchester City for talks. A loan deal with an option to buy was broached buy the Blaugrana. However, Manchester City were quick to rebuff their advances, as they see Torres as a key player in Guardiola’s side.
In fact, their failure to sign Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer has meant that Torres has been the go-to man for the Premier League champions in the centre-forward role this term. And the 21-year-old has delivered whenever called upon, scoring three goals and setting up another in seven games across all competitions.
As for Barcelona, they also ended up losing Griezmann on the transfer deadline day, and decided to bring in Luuk de Jong as a replacement, but so far, the Dutchman has proven to be a misfit. So, another attempt to sign a new forward could be made in January, with Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette emerging as a cost-effective target.