Why didn’t Barcelona bring in Karim Benzema years ago?

Once again he impressed everyone on the European stage with a hat-trick against Paris Saint-Germain. We just have to remember that Barcelona were considering the arrival of Karim Benzema even before his transfer to Real Madrid.

The Catalans’ interest in Benzema dates back to the 2007/2008 season, when the striker defended the colours of Olympique Lyon. Blaugranas sporting director Txiki Begiristain has been tracking the Frenchman in view of the team’s impending rebuild.

He later took over from Pep Guardiola, had to leave among others Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto’o. Begiristain therefore travelled to Lyon three times to talk to the club, the player’s agent, and even Benzema himself about a possible transfer ahead of the 2007/2008 season.

However, the Frenchman was only 20 years old at the time and still wanted to stay at Lyon for another year. Olympique president Jean-Michel Aulas and sporting director Bernard Lacombe had a similar view.

In April 2008, Begiristain personally watched Benzema in a match against the Mets. Barcelona had no doubts about the player’s ability at the time, but he did not end up heading to Camp Nou. One of the reasons was the negative feedback on the player’s behaviour.

During the following meetings, Begiristain’s doubts began to grow. During the negotiations, the player himself was absent. Moreover, the representative of the Catalan big club felt that the striker would find it difficult to adapt to the Barcelona dressing room.

In the end, Samuel Eto’o stayed at Camp Nou with great success and won all possible trophies. A year later, Benzema had already agreed a deal with Real Madrid, where he experienced different moments, but in recent years he has become a leader.

Barcelona, on the other hand, decided on a risky operation and sold Eto’o for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. A transfer that proved to be unfortunate.

Source: Twitter