Playing for FC Barcelona is a dream that many footballers throughout the world have, but only a few are lucky enough to don the famous blue and garnet jersey.
One player who could have played for the Catalan club if his career had panned out a little bit differently is the Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski.
In the summer of 2020, he was closely linked with Barcelona and could have been the first Polish player to sign for the Blaugrana club, an honor that Robert Lewandowski later took for himself in 2022.
As SPORT has reported, the Pole revealed this himself as he appeared in an interview with Polish media. In 2020, the midfielder was negotiating a renewal with Napoli, but during these negotiations, he received several offers from around Europe.
He revealed that one such offer came from FC Barcelona: “It was supposed to be an exchange… young Barcelona players would go to Napoli… Two or three players from La Masia, [but] it seems that De Laurentiis (president of Napoli) preferred me.”
This situation came during the summer of 2020, when Josep Maria Bartomeu was the President of the Catalan club. However, this operation never came to fruition and the €22m-rated Polish midfielder remained at Napoli.
At that time, he ended up signing a renewal agreement for four more years. But the interest from these clubs, including FC Barcelona, still helped him get a more favorable contract from the Partenopeans.
However, his association with the Naples club ended last summer, as he joined another Serie A side Inter Milan. But there was a serious possibility of him signing with FC Barcelona back in 2020, and one can only imagine how things would have panned out for the Catalan club and the midfielder if that move had taken place back then.
