The sporting director of Barcelona, Andoni Zubizarreta, has told TV3 that the club were beaten to the signature of young Brazilian defender Marquinhos by French money kings PSG last summer.
The former Spain goalkeeper said: “We were closely following Marquinhos last year when he was still at Roma. But Paris Saint Germain then made an offer which we could not and did not want to match.”
Marquinhos allegedly moved to the French capital for a fee in the region of €35 million, just a year after moving to Rome from Corinthians for less than a tenth of that figure.
And perhaps even more interesting is the fact that the Brazilian youth has had to settle for a consistent place on the bench at PSG, behind in the pecking order that consists of Thiago Silva and Alex.
Barcelona are ironically on the hunt for a new centre back after club stalwart Carles Puyol announced he is to leave the side at the end of the current campaign.
