Choosing whether you sign for Real Madrid or Barcelona is a privilege reserved for a select few. We’ve taken a look at some who’ve been presented with the dilemma and opted for Madrid.
For Real Madrid or Barcelona to be interested in signing you, you have to be special. To have the choice between the two, you have to be a superstar – or at least a potential superstar.
That’s the case for all of the nine players on this list, who had both a Blaugrana and Blancos shirt within their grasp but opted definitively for the latter.
Vinicius Jr
After missing out to Barcelona on the signing of Neymar in 2013, Madrid president Florentino Perez became obsessed with snapping up the next great Brazilian talent. In 2018, that talent emerged, he played for Flamengo and his name was Vinicius Jr.
Again, both Barcelona and Madrid were interested, but this time Perez would not be beaten to his target.
In 2021, former Barcelona executive Andre Cury told SPORT: “With Vinicius, we were three and a half years ahead of Madrid [in scouting and negotiations].
“His agents, Frederico Penna and Stefano Hawilla, who had reached a commitment with Barcelona, betrayed us. The client of his company was us and not Madrid. I had a huge friendship with them, to the point of being best man at weddings and baptisms.
“At the key moment of the operation, they stabbed us in the back. Fifteen days before signing for Madrid, here in Brazil Vinicius said that he was a Barca fan, that his idol was Neymar and that [Lionel] Messi was better than Cristiano [Ronaldo]. Then he said what he wanted after he went to Madrid.”
Vinicius himself painted a less nefarious picture in 2019, telling AS: “I had proposals from Madrid and Barca, too. My father told me that I had to choose, and I had to follow my heart.”
READ: The five forwards Real Madrid signed to replace Ronaldo & how they fared
Rodrygo
Not content with one Brazilian super-talent, Perez went back to the country for another ‘next big thing’ later in 2018, signing Rodrygo from Santos.
Again, the Barcelona offer arrived first. According to Mundo Deportivo, Rodrygo’s father urged him to accept, to go and play with Messi. Rodrygo said he wanted to wait for an offer from Real Madrid to materialise as well.
It did and in 2022, Rodrygo told the Jota Jota podcast: “I arrived home after a match. I had a shirt from Real Madrid in my house and my father came into the room with that shirt and another one of Barcelona and he said…
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