Club ‘did not arrive in time’ sign Manchester City player – Frustration as deal could have been done

Barcelona failed to sign Kalvin Phillips from Manchester City as they weren’t quick enough to beat West Ham to his signature.

That’s according to Marca, who cover the midfielder today and how Barcelona ‘did not arrive in time’ to sign him.

They explain that Barcelona wanted to sign the midfielder on loan from Manchester City in the January transfer window and providing Xavi with the midfielder he needs.

The club’s sports directorate had settled on Phillips as he was available, but the operation was not an easy one because of Barcelona’s financial situation and the lack of room in terms of Financial Fair Play.

The hope was to do some sort of deal so they could make room but that never happened and so they couldn’t move to get Phillips from Manchester City.

In the meantime, the Hammers made their move and secured the deal, announcing the loan move on the 26^{th of} January.

That was frustrating for Barcelona as a day later they received confirmation that Alejandro Balde was set to miss the rest of the season, meaning they could write off 80% of his wages on the books from the Fair Play records.

That therefore would have allowed them to sign Phillips but the confirmation of that injury did not arrive until the 27^th, the day after the London club secured his signature.

In other words, Barcelona had missed their shot. They believed Phillips was a good option until the end of the season but there was no financial capacity to do the deal and by the time there was, the midfielder had already gone to the London Stadium.