The last summer window was a period of hectic activity at FC Barcelona offices. The club undertook several operations, and completed most of them successfully, as the Catalans were able to land players like Ilkay Gundogan, Joao Felix, and Joao Cancelo despite their weak finances, and also able to bid farewell to the players they wanted to transfer away from the club.
However, these were not the only portfolios the club had opened during that time, and a lot of other work was also being done in the background, away from public notice. Some of these operations have come to light only recently.
One such operation that the Catalans were working on was for the Portuguese midfielder, Luis Florentino. According to Mundo Deportivo, this has been disclosed by the player’s agent, Bruno Carvalho, who spoke about Barcelona’s interest in his client in some detail:
“Due to the club’s financial fair play, I think it’s difficult for Barcelona to make a 40-million offer. I can’t deny that it was one of the clubs that sought Florentino in the summer; there was a lot of talk about him, as well as other Premier League teams.
But Benfica decided to keep him for more seasons and considered him non-transferable. In recent years, Florentino has played in European competitions, is accustomed to big games, and it will always be his dream to continue playing in European competitions.”
The 24-year-old midfielder has made around 100 appearances for Benfica after graduating from the club’s academy and spending two seasons on loan at Monaco and Getafe.
He has been a part of the starting lineup for nine of eleven league games this season, but is not this important a player for the Portuguese club in the UEFA Champions League, where he has only accumulated 20 minutes up to now, playing only against Real Sociedad in this campaign.
