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Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed the process that led to the club signing Marcus Rashford on loan, after missing out on the transfer of Luis Diaz.
The Spanish champions enquired about the Liverpool winger earlier in the window, but saw that offer immediately rebuffed by the Reds. Diaz has also attracted interest from Al-Nassr and Bayern Munich this summer, with the latter seeing a €67.5 million ($79M/£59M) offer rejected on July 15.
Barca had also been in talks to sign Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams before he agreed a long-term deal with the Basque club, leaving one option on the table. Rashford’s loan move from Manchester United was confirmed on Wednesday, with the 27-year-old set to spend the 2025/26 campaign in La Liga.
Laporta claimed the England international was always his preference from the list of options, and, strangely, revealed that sporting director Deco was more enthusiastic about the other potential attackers.
“There were several options, and I'm very happy because we ended up getting the option I liked the most,” the club official told Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo.
“It's true that I also liked Luis Diaz, a very complete player, but due to his circumstances, with Liverpool very entrenched, it was complicated, although I appreciate the player who always wanted to come,” he added, on why a deal was not concluded for the Colombian international.
“The Nico Williams situation also happened. And given that Luis' situation was complicated and that we were in the process of negotiating with Rashford, Nico's agent came to me offering the possibility of signing him. Deco told me about it.
“In principle, I preferred to work on the other two options, but in these cases I always listen to the sporting director.
“He said we should at least listen because he's an interesting player because he holds his own on the wing.
“Negotiations took place, but from what they told us to what it ended up being, there was a big difference in the payment terms, the agent's commission, and a series of variables that already suggested the deal wouldn't happen.
“Deco set a 48-hour deadline, and if they didn't accept our terms, we wouldn't do the deal. In the end, it didn't happen. In parallel, work continued on the other two, and Rashford's became clearer.”
Recent reports have claimed that Liverpool should expect an improved bid from Bayern for Diaz, although the Reds’ stance all summer has been that it does not intend to sell the ex-Porto man.
Diaz, who is currently with the Liverpool squad in Hong Kong, has two years remaining on his contract at Anfield and the club currently has no plans to negotiate a new deal. Liverpool values the winger at around €100M ($117M/£87M).
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