Although FC Barcelona were unable to win anything significant in the last season, there were still some phases in the campaign where it looked like the Catalans were going to get back to their former glory soon.
One such event was the win over Napoli in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, after Xavi was able to lead his team to the knock-out rounds of the tournament after a break of two years.
A lot of things changed with Xavi’s departure at the end of the season, but if the former midfielder had stayed at Barcelona, he might have pushed the club to bring in one of the midfielders he faced in this tie against Napoli, i.e., Stanislav Lobotka.
He openly praised the Slovakian in a press conference, and as the player’s agent confirmed a few days ago, there was even an agreement between Barcelona and the player for his move to the Catalan club.
Now, as SPORT has reported, the player himself has spoken about the interest he received from Barcelona, and his own readiness to don the blue and garnet jersey, as he spoke to La Gazzetta dello Sport. In this regard, he said:
“I would like to play in a top-tier club, but for now, I am in Naples, I have a contract, I have an ‘Italian family’ there… If I had an offer from an important club, I would accept it, but it wouldn’t be a problem to stay.”
Furthermore, when asked directly about FC Barcelona, he mentioned the two names that he liked particularly as a youngster, and whose footsteps he would be looking to follow: “I followed them when I was a kid, with Deco and Ronaldinho. If an offer came, I would like to go there.”
With Flick’s appointment, it is not clear whether Barcelona are still interested in the Slovakian midfielder. The midfielder was eliminated from the UEFA EURO 2024 last night, and at 29 years of age, it does not look very likely that Barcelona would be looking to spend any money to bring him in this summer.
