Back in 2003, Real Madrid were reportedly picking their future superstar between David Beckham and Ronaldinho, although Florentino Perez told the media they were never really interested in the Brazilian.
In 2004, one of the Whites' club members revealed the truth behind the decision to land Beckham, as per El Pais.
It had nothing to do with the player's style of play.
"How ugly is Ronaldinho?! There was no point buying him, it wasn't worth it. He's so ugly that he'd sink you as a brand. Between Ronaldinho and Beckham, I'd go for Beckham a hundred times. Just look how handsome Beckham is, the class he has, the image. The whole of Asia has fallen in love with us because of Beckham. Ronaldinho is too ugly."
It's hard to say that Beckham was a flop for Real Madrid but of course, Barcelona were far luckier to have the skillful Brazilian in the squad – the latter bagged about 100 goals and got 60+ assists for Blaugrana in 5 years.
Interestingly, Florentino Perez's habit to sign players looking at their public image is one of the reasons why the Galacticos flopped as a project.
And what a masterclass from Joan Laporta that was.
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'Respect is earned when you offer respect': Why Neymar comeback would be completely wrong
"His [Neymar's] presence might be good for the club. But he doesn't approve Cruyff legacy. And the way he celebrated on social media when Barca lost wasn't very professional," Barca fan nicknamed anushree_68 tweets.
"Mbappe is big. Hat-trick of my boy!"
"He got a career because of Barca. Respect is earned when you offer respect. I don't think Neymar Jr has even tried," she adds.
We may only add that, if all those rumours are true, Neymar's desire to come back to Camp Nou fully depends on what condition Barca are in. After we got a new president, a few world-class players have been reportedly 'dreaming' of Blaugrana move, including Neymar and Matthijs De Ligt.
Thoughts on this fan statement, Cules?
Barcelona interested in Jerome Boateng; his contract expires in July (reliability: 5 stars)
Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur are interested in landing Jerome Boateng for free in the summer, SportBild's Christian Falk reports.
The 32-year-old has been a regular starter for Bayern Munich this season but he's often considered the team's worst centre-back by their fans.
It's possible that Barca's idea is to land Boateng in case Eric Garcia's deal falls through.
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