AdminIn a desperate attempt to reinforce their midfield in January, Barcelona put in a cheeky loan bid for World Cup hero Sofyan Amrabat. Their offer included €3 million in loan fee, with an option to buy him for around €40 million in June.
Fiorentina refused to entertain the offer, though, as they wanted Barça to put in a mandatory buy clause in the deal. The Catalans did not have that about of money guaranteed in the summer, and La Liga refused to allow them to go ahead with that kind of deal.
Eventually, even after Amrabat’s attempts to speak to the Fiorentina president in the hopes of pushing the move through in the winter, the Serie A side refused to bulge from their stance, and the player ended up staying in Italy.
His brother, Nordin Amrabat confirmed this in an interview today with Voetbal Premier.
“I can name three clubs who were concrete in the last two or three days of the transfer window,” he said.
“Barcelona came with a loan offer for Sofyan two or three days before the end of the window. But they were not able to include a mandatory purchase option. Sofyan really wanted to go there, he had hopes because Barcelona offered a good loan fee.”
Fiorentina said, ‘No, no way. You are one of our most important players, we are not going to let you go now. In the summer, we can talk about a transfer.’”
There were also reports claiming that Fiorentina had promised Amrabat that he would be allowed to leave – even on loan – if a good offer came in the January transfer window. And it seems Barcelona were not the only ones.
“Manchester United wanted a loan with an option to buy, Fiorentina rejected. And the third was Chelsea,” Amrabat’s brother added.
While the Moroccan international will be hoping to push for his dream transfer in the summer, it seems Barcelona do not have the player on their transfer wishlist. Instead, Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi has been chosen as the Sergio Busquets’ successor in defensive midfield.
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