Real Madrid attempted to land Barcelona legend, reveals ex-director: “Spoke to his father”

Speaking on a television programme, former Real Madrid footballer and director Predrag Mijatovic has sensationally claimed that they made an attempt to sign Barcelona icon Andres Iniesta.

Mijatovic spent three years as a player at Real Madrid between 1996 and 1999 before returning to the club as the director of football in 2006. He was in the position for close to three years and has now revealed that he wanted to sign Iniesta from Barcelona during that time.

“I did want to sign him. We were, well, close… I don’t know if we were close. But we took advantage of the fact that he was renewing his contract, he hadn’t reached an agreement…,” said Mijatovic, as quoted by MARCA.

The former Real Madrid director went on to reveal that talks were held with Iniesta’s father through whom they tried to reach out to his agents. However, ultimately, a move did not go through.

“We spoke to his father. We tried to talk to his agent to take advantage of the opportunity. We had a high clause and we were determined to pay it. He was a player I always looked up to and he was a phenomenon.

“Although that signing didn’t happen, but there were talks with the agent through his father,” Mijatovic said.

Iniesta went on to have a legendary career at Barcelona as he was among the club’s golden generation that dominated the domestic and continental footballing scenes for several years.

The 38-year-old went on to make 674 appearances for the Blaugrana, racking up a tally of 57 goals and 137 assists, before leaving for Vissel Kobe in the summer of 2018.