Former Barcelona sporting directer Andoni Zubizarreta has revealed that Luis Suarez was not their first choice when shopping for a new striker in 2014.
Instead, Zubizarreta has revealed that the Catalans were more interested in signing Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero in the January 2014 transfer window but their approach was rejected.
“We had some options. The first was not Suarez. He knows it. In winter we considered the signing of Aguero. That did not work out.” Zubizarreta told Marca.
“In this situation, there was no doubt: Luis Suarez was our only goal.”
Suarez did eventually move to Barcelona but it was complicated by the four-month suspension he received for biting Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup.
Zubizarreta believes the suspension was a blessing in disguise as it made other clubs hesistant in to sign the troublesome Uruguayan.
“During the negotiation process the incident with Chiellini occurred. The issue created a seed of doubt for other clubs who wanted him. They questioned his character. I thought it was the perfect time to accelerate the process of signing him.”
“I liked everything about him: he was not static, knew his way around the outside of the box and gave us a profile which we did not have. ”
“From the outset his willingness to sign for Barca was huge.”