Barcelona takes another “L” on last minute pitch to Thiago Alcantara

By now, everyone is aware that Thiago Alcantara made the move from Bayern Munich to Liverpool after a successful — and treble-winning — stint with the Bavarian giants.

What everyone might not be aware of, however, is that FC Barcelona was set to make an offer for the 29-year-old midfielder in hopes of bringing him back to his boyhood club. That offer would have been, well, lacking.

Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

Per Cadena SER (as captured by Forbes), FC Barcelona sporting director Javier Bordas met with Thiago in Catalonia roughly two weeks ago. At the time, Thiago reportedly knew he would be moving to Liverpool, but took the meeting anyway. Allegedly, the plan for Barca was enter the bidding fray with an offer of €10 million for Thiago.

While the argument to return to Barca was obviously not strong enough to sway Thiago, the bigger question is why even bother if the plan was to submit such a paltry offer? Thiago is not some ‘85 two-tone silver and gray Buick Century with 155,000 miles that has been sitting on the lot dormant for 10 years and Bayern Munich has proven not to be some sap looking to make $0.33 on the dollar — or €0.28 on the Euro — for a player entering the final years of his prime — even during a pandemic.

This is not to pile on Barcelona and the issues it is having financially and administratively, but an example (if true) of just how crazy the transfer market can be at times. Regardless, Thiago acquitted himself extremely well in his debut under Jürgen Klopp and Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka did a fantastic job of manning the central midfield in Bayern Munich’s season-opening victory over Schalke 04.