Real Madrid turned down the opportunity to sign Pedri

Pedri, who won the Golden Boy award last month, is viewed as the future of Barcelona.

History is replete with players that slipped through the hands of managers. Monsieur Wenger, while talking about the players that slipped through his hands, Wenger said, every club has its tales of missing players that turned out great.

Perhaps, if some of the players that Wenger missed had landed at Arsenal, the club might have won the UEFA Champions League. Wenger could easily have landed Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The rest is history, but you can’t get them all.

One that slipped through Real Madrid’s hands is a fan favourite at eternal rival Barcelona. Pedri could have been donning the white of Los Blancos, but the Madrid side lost out on that opportunity.

Real Madrid missed out on Pedri

Hardly unbelievable, but Pedri could have been marshalling Real Madrid now, and perhaps, the successor to Luka Modric, who at 36, is on his last legs. The Barcelona midfielder and winner of the Golden Boy award revealed recently that Real Madrid turned down the opportunity to sign him. What has become Real Madrid’s loss is Barcelona’s gain.

The 19-year-old has now cemented his position as a talent that could reign for a long time. The events of last year saw Pedri rise to prominence. He was an integral part of the Spanish national team.

Real Madrid had spotted Pedri’s talent and offered him a trial. The then 15-year-old was playing for Tenerife-based outfit CF Juventud Laguna.

The trial did not take place due to bad weather in Madrid. Instead of rearranging the exercise, Real Madrid cancelled it and didn’t pursue their interest in the young lad. Pedri told Tuttosport the massive snowfall put paid to any dream of playing for Real Madrid. He could have been winning his accolades in the colours of Real Madrid rather than Barca.

He recalls that the best he got from that episode was some light training with Real Madrid’s academy side before jetting back to Tenerife.

Illustrious records at a tender age

Pedri believes that Real Madrid had already made up their mind on him, and it was why they did not pursue their interest in him. Pedri claims that Los Blancos didn’t want to sign him and the snowfall just made their job easier.

Pedri has gone on to make a name for himself. The young lad arrived in Barcelona from Las Palmas in July 2020. Two months later, he made his debut Los Blaugrana and has accumulated 56 appearances for the Catalan giants.

He is also capped 10-times for Spain being an integral part of the team that reached the semis of the EURO 2020. He also won silver at the Tokyo Olympics.

With interest from Manchester City, Manchester United and PSG, the player penned a new deal at the Camp Nou until 2026, with a release clause of €1 billion (£850 million).