Barcelona turned down chance to sign Real Madrid target earlier this summer | OneFootball

Barcelona have had a relatively busy summer up until now, with Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi having been signed for Hansi Flick’s squad. The former joined prior to the 2026 World Cup in an €80m deal from Newcastle United, although had different decisions been made, Yan Diomande could have been at the Spotify Camp Nou instead.

As per Sport, Barcelona had considered signing Diomande back in May. At that time, sporting director Deco met with the RB Leipzig winger’s representatives, at which point he would told that a deal could be done for €100m.

In the end, Barcelona decided not to proceed with a deal for Diomande as they considered it to be too expensive – they were also mulling over whether to proceed with plans to sign Marcus Rashford for €30m, which did not happen either. They ultimately pivoted to Gordon, who will arrive at the club soon once he recovers from an impressive World Cup.

Diomande poised to join Real Madrid instead

Earlier in the summer, Barcelona were also linked with Marc Cucurella and Bernardo Silva prior to both players joining Real Madrid, and Diomande is another that is set to make the move to the Bernabeu. In the last 24 hours, it’s been reported that Los Blancos officials are closing in on a deal for the Ivory Coast international, who will cost in the region of €120m – which is significant more than the Catalans could have got him for.

It remains to be seen whether Barcelona will regret going for Gordon over Diomande, but for now, there is a lot of satisfaction regarding the signing of the England international. He is seen as a perfect player for the way that Flick wants his side to play, although the coming months will determine whether they were right to splash out €80m to bring him in.