During the summer, Barcelona were on the lookout for two new midfielders – a new pivot (to replace Sergio Busquets) and another more creative option. Oriol Romeu was signed to be the new defensive midfielder, but they failed to bring in the latter.
One player that had been linked with Barcelona was Sergi Darder. The 29-year-old had just been relegated with Espanyol, and he was highly expected to remain in La Liga. He did so, as he ended up signing for Mallorca, where he has impressed so far this season.
Darder, speaking to Onda Cero (via Sport) after Mallorca’s victory over Sevilla on Saturday, revealed that he had the chance to sign for Barcelona, but his allegiance to Espanyol meant that he didn’t want to join under any circumstances.
“I had the chance to sign for Barcelona this summer. It’s hard to say no to a team like that, but when I thought about it coldly, my head wouldn’t let me do it as I was coming from Espanyol. There wasn’t even 1% of me that wanted to go.”
Darder’s commitment to showing loyalty to Espanyol is commendable, and is rare in football’s modern times. Barcelona could well be ruing missing out on Darder, especially with Gavi’s season-ending injury.
