The real reason why Barcelona could not sign Japanese star in 2019 – report

Barcelona’s upcoming away game against Real Sociedad will see their former youth player, Takefusa Kubo, taking the field against them on Saturday.

It must be noted that Kubo’s first experience with Barcelona happened in 2011. The then 9-year-old Japanese had been invited to join FC Barcelona’s youth Academy and was soon seen playing for Barca Alevo C (U11).

The young forward was scoring goals for fun but after two seasons, news emerged that the Blaugrana had violated FIFA’s international transfer policy for under-18 youth players, meaning that the player had no option but to return to Japan.

The story of Barça and Kubo is like a childhood dream that couldn’t come true because of many different things, which made them go in different directions, reports Mundo Deportivo.

Take returned to Japan but with a clear idea

In March 2015, the Japanese left La Masia because of a FIFA punishment on the youth team at Barcelona. He couldn’t play for almost two seasons while they sorted out the problem.

Eventually, he went back to Japan, planning to come back to Barcelona and make it big once he turned 18 in 2019.

A few years back, Oscar Hernandez, who used to train young players at Barça and found Take Kubo at the FCB School in Fukuoka, said that Kubo’s dream was to play for Barcelona. 

At that time, he had offers from PSG, Chelsea, and Real Madrid, with the Los Blancos being his ultimate destination.

He did not forget Barcelona but chose Real Madrid eventually

MD writes that Take honed during his formative years at La Masia, drawing inspiration from the likes of Leo Messi and Andres Iniesta. 

Even after returning to Japan, he continued to make an annual trip to Barcelona ensuring that he never missed a visit to the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper to reunite with his erstwhile companions.

In early 2019, everyone simply assumed that Take Kubo’s return to Barcelona was a done deal. However, as the months passed and June approached, that assumption was shattered. 

The initial terms of the pre-agreement between Barcelona and Take Kubo underwent substantial renegotiations and after numerous discussions, Barcelona decided to walk away from the deal and it was at this point that Real Madrid emerged as a major player, offering a significantly more lucrative financial package.

However, things did not go as planned for the youngster at Madrid but after a series of loan tenures, he is now settled at Real Sociedad where he is loved by the team and the fans alike.