FC Barcelona is a club with a pedigree so great that most players are unable to reject their advances. Even at a point where the Catalans are not exactly at their best financially, many great players made the move to Barcelona without any regrets.
However, while most simply can not manage to reject Barça’s advances, some definitely can. Fuelled by rivalries and personal biases, there are certain players who could not play for Barcelona even in their wildest dreams if the opportunity presented itself.
One such player is Sergi Darder, who currently plays as a midfielder for RCD Mallorca. As highlighted by SPORT, the player confirmed that FC Barcelona did indeed approach him with the intention of signing him. He was seen as a possible replacement to cover the void left behind by Sergio Busquets.
Consequently, Barcelona ultimately had to sign Oriol Romeu as their low-cost alternative. Darder, on the other hand, confirmed that Barça were interested in him. However, there was close to no chance that the midfielder would end up joining them:
“I had the chance to join Barcelona this summer, and it’s tough to say no to a team like that. But when I thought about it rationally, my allegiance to Espanyol prevented me. There wasn’t even a 1% chance for me to go.”
He even elaborated that he decided to talk about this topic with some of his trusted people at Espanyol. Given the rivalry between the two clubs, it is almost natural for players to feel animosity towards the other:
“I spoke with people at Espanyol, like Tommy (N’kono), and my sentiment for Espanyol was so strong that it didn’t allow me.”
Ultimately, he chose to leave Espanyol as they were getting relegated and instead went to RCD Mallorca. While he is not exactly flying with his current team, they are at least away from the relegation zone and are slowly gaining momentum.
