It is arguably unimaginable to see Kylian Mbappe join FC Barcelona when he leaves PSG this summer. Firstly, he is closer than ever to joining Barcelona’s bitter rival, Real Madrid. Furthermore, debt and Financial Fairplay constraints won’t allow the Catalonian club to afford the Frenchman. However, Mbappe was not always unaffordable to Barcelona. As per the club’s former technical director’s recent revelation, the Catalan club had almost secured Mbappe’s heavily priced signature when Neymar left for PSG.

PSG paid a staggering $240 million in transfer fees to acquire Neymar from Barcelona. This hefty fee still holds the record for the highest transfer fee in the history of the game. As per Barca’s ex-director Javier Bordas, this PSG-induced boost in the club’s financials allowed them to sign Kylian Mbappe. “If I had asked, he [Mbappe] would have come to Barça. When they paid €222m for Neymar, we had the money to sign him,” (translated by Google Translate) said Javier Bordas in an appearance on El Chiringuito TV.

Bordas later added that the Barcelona front office prioritized Mbappe’s France teammate Ousmane Dembele. Barca had ultimately acquired Dembele in a deal that would later go awry. At the time, Mbappe had freshly joined PSG on a loan move from Monaco with a $195 million price tag. That was not beyond Barcelona’s buying powers back then. Besides, as per Bordas, his entourage even contacted Mbappe’s father to lure the Frenchman to Catalonia. This failed Mbappe move will perhaps turn out to be one of the biggest upsets in Catalan history, as the former would probably hit the Santiago Bernabeu, wearing Real Madrid’s whites.

What’s new on Kylian Mbappe’s Real Madrid transfer saga

Rumors had it that Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid engineered a deal behind the scenes after the Frenchman decided to leave PSG this summer. Anyhow, Mbappe denied having inked such a secret pact. He assured he would clear the air about his future before the 2024 UEFA Euro. Even so, transfer experts say Mbappe and Madrid are in advanced talks over a potential deal. The 2018 World Champion will have to take a large pay cut should he join the Spanish giants.

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But he has reportedly negotiated for a staggering signing-on bonus. Besides, Madrid, which usually keeps players’ image rights, might compromise before the Frenchman. The Blancos will share a cut of Mbappe’s image rights with him. Moreover, if he joins Madrid, the 25-year-old would be the club’s highest earner. Even if Mbappe ditches Real Madrid, he would probably choose an English Premier League club as his next destination. So it seems, the 2017 episode was the only chance Barcelona had of poaching the Frenchman. And they spectacularly blew it.

Watch: Kylian Mbappe Receives Similar Treatment as Lionel Messi and Neymar From PSG Fans, One Year After the Booing Incident