Alphonso Davies is one of the best transfers FC Bayern has made in recent years. As former attacker Hristo Stoichkov has now revealed, the left-back could have ended up at FC Barcelona. But Barca seemingly categorically refused.
The bosses of FC Barcelona may well have regretted this decision: when Alphonso Davies was still playing as a winger for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the US Major League Soccer, the Spanish top club refused a commitment. Former Barca star Hristo Stoichkov has now revealed this.
Stoichkov, who is now an expert on the Mexican channel “TUDN” Davies once even warmly recommended FC Barcelona. According to the Bulgarian, the answer from the then Barca President Josip Bartomeu was negative.
“He’s Canadian and plays in the MLS, he doesn’t interest me,” Bartomeu said to him: “It was that clear.” According to Stoichkov, Davies was observed by “many scouts” at the time.
Stoichkov slams Barca bosses: ‘They don’t share our philosophy’
The 21-year-old left foot finally came to Bayern Munich in November 2018, where he was retrained as a defender. In no time at all, the native Ghanaian conquered a regular place, meanwhile he has 85 appearances in the Bundesliga and 23 in the Champions League. Davies also sensationally qualified for the World Cup with Canada.
According to Hristo Stoichkov, today’s Bayern star is not the only promising player that FC Barcelona turned down. The Mexicans Hirving Lozano, who has been under contract with SSC Napoli since 2019, Diego Lainez, who is currently on loan from Real Betis to Sporting Braga, and the 25-time national player César Montes did not fit Barca’s profile either.
According to Stoichkov, FC Barcelona made big mistakes in their transfer strategy: “They don’t share our philosophy.”