On Friday, Tottenham Hotspur announced that an agreement had been reached with Djurgårdens IF for Lucas Bergvall to arrive at the club in the summer. The Premier League side were able to beat Barcelona to his signature.
On Monday, the 18-year-old revealed it was a “very difficult choice” to pick Spurs over the La Liga side.
Sport say Tottenham offered more money and the Blaugrana couldn’t match it for a player who hasn’t yet proved himself at the top level.
Last week, we relayed claims from Spain that agent commission influenced the midfielder’s camp to snub the Blaugrana for the north London club.
Sport have backed that up and state that ‘everything began to go wrong’ for Barcelona when the agent asked for higher commission [double that what’s usually offered] at the last minute and demanded a first-team salary for the 17-year-old.
Xavi Hernández’s side, on the other hand, initially wanted to include him in the reserves before giving opportunities in the senior team.
Within the Camp Nou, they believe the agent used them in the media, as a tactic to put pressure on Tottenham to meet their financial demands.
It’s explained that Bergvall’s entourage ‘worked secretly’ with Tottenham and publicly with Barca.
The Spanish giants didn’t want to enter this game and realised theye were being ‘used’ by the agent. Therefore, Barcelona sporting director Deco decided against making an improved offer.
The newspaper even accuses the rising star’s agent of taking him to Tottenham to ‘get more money’.
They end their report by stating: ‘We no longer know whether to believe that the boy’s dream really passed through Barcelona rather than London, but his people took it upon themselves to take him where the opportunity was greater. End of story.’
Catalan sour grapes continue.
