On Tuesday, Sport reported Barcelona were already well advanced to sign Arsenal’s Héctor Bellerín.
The La Liga side wanted to bring in a new right-back after allowing Emerson Royal join Tottenham Hotspur, and the Gunners man was identified as the main target by the Catalan club.
Bellerín, however, ended up moving to Real Betis on a season-long loan deal on deadline day.
Emerson’s exit leaves the Spanish club with Jordi Alba and Sergiño Dest as the only two recognised fullbacks in the squad, while Sergi Roberto can operate on either side of the defence.
Sport on Wednesday explain the Blaugrana had ‘reached an agreement’ with the 26-year-old for him to arrive at the Camp Nou on a loan deal. His environment were ‘waiting for the final OK on Monday’ night.
It’s said Barcelona wouldn’t have had ‘any problem’ negotiating with Mikel Arteta’s side, since they wanted the player out of the club. The deal didn’t go through because Ronald Koeman wasn’t convinced about signing Bellerín.
The Dutchman didn’t want to make new additions without the club trying to get rid of few of their players. In addition to this, Koeman requested all efforts were made to bring in a new centre forward.
Sport say Barcelona even found the formula to register Bellerín, but in the end they ‘called him to tell him that he was not coming’ due to Koeman’s stance.
