Wednesday, 26th November, 2014



Former Barcelona scout Bojan Krkic Sr has revealed that the Catalan giants passed up on the chance to sign Thibaut Courtois and Raphael Varane before they were big stars.

Courtois, who was snapped up by Chelsea from Genk in 2011, is currently the Blues’ number one choice between the sticks after the Belgian impressed during a three-year loan spell at Atletico Madrid.




And Krkic Sr insisted that Courtois was keen to join Barcelona in 2011, but the Catalan outfit’s hesitancy paved the way for Chelsea to sign the custodian a month later.

"In my last year as a scout at the club, we were offered Courtois straight from Belgium”, he told Spanish daily Marca.
 


“He had established himself as a no. 1 [for Genk] at the age of 19 and one of his agents was a friend of mine, a former team-mate for Yugoslavia, who spoke very highly of him.

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“We got a lot of videos of him and I put the word out that I was really impressed, but nothing was done about it", Krkic Sr stated.

"He was really keen to join Barca and was willing to sign a permanent deal and then play for the B-team or be farmed out on loan.

“We'd discussed a €3m fee because he was an unknown. It was a bargain. A month later he joined Chelsea.

“It must have got forgotten about in Zubi's [Andoni Zubizarreta, sporting director, ed] office, in his video library or drawer.”

Krkic Sr, father of former Barcelona forward Bojan, further added that the Camp Nou outfit opted against signing Varane before the French defender was signed by fellow La Liga giants Real Madrid in 2011.

"I was tipped off about Varane – he was playing as a holding midfielder”, he added.

“I raved about him and said he was one to keep close tabs on and that we should sign him.

“I put that in my report, which I gave to Albert Valentín, who sent a scout to watch Lens away at Monaco, but the opinion that came back wasn't positive and that was the end of it."

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