How Barcelona rejected chance to sign Kylian Mbappe in favour of Nou Camp flop

A former Barcelona sporting director has revealed how the club rejected the chance to sign Kylian Mbappe in 2017 – instead opting to sign a £135million flop

Former Barcelona sporting director Javier Bordas revealed the club rejected the chance to sign Kylian Mbappe back in 2017.

The PSG superstar is set to leave PSG in the summer and looks almost certain to join Real Madrid on a free transfer at the end of his contract at the Parc des Princes. But the career of Mbappe – and Barcelona’s fate – could have looked incredibly different.

Mbappe joined PSG from Monaco in a deal worth £166million in 2018, after spending the previous season on loan in Paris, becoming the second most expensive player in world football. However, the then-teenager could’ve been heading to Camp Nou if their hierarchy had decided not to pursue other options.

Appearing on Spanish TV show El Chiringuito, Bordas, who worked under club presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Bartomeu, claimed that if he had been in charge then, Mbappe would have signed for Barcelona. Instead the club spent £135million on Borussia Dortmund winger Ousmane Dembele.

"If I had been in charge, Mbappe would have played for Barca,” Bordas said. “I moved for Mbappe. He could have come to Barca. We didn't specify a price, but he would have gone for €100 million. The coaches told us that they wanted Dembele because of the other players we had. There was the option to bring both of them."

There’s no doubt that Barcelona had the financial muscle at the time to sign Mbappe, possibly even alongside his fellow countryman, after Neymar had been sold to PSG for £198million that summer.

But indicative of their recent problems, Barcelona’s decision to sign Dembele has gone down as one of the worst decisions in football transfer history. The Frenchman became Barca’s all-time record signing at the time before Philippe Coutinho arrived the following January for £146m, but injuries, poor form and off-the-field problems saw him score just 40 goals in 185 games for the Catalans between 2017 and 2023.

Now 26, Dembele returns to the Camp Nou with PSG for the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final, in which Barcelona hold a 3-2 lead. Dembele has scored just twice for PSG in 35 games, seeing his incredible potential become something of a very distant memory.

Barca are still counting the cost of not signing Mbappe that summer to this day. Instead, they splurged the Neymar fee on Coutinho, Dembele, ex-Spurs flop Paulinho – who cost £36m – and current Wolves right-back Nelson Semedo for £26m.

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