Real Madrid star Brahim Diaz’s camp agreed for him to join FC Barcelona when the forward was 12 years of age, as explained in a report by SPORT.
After being sent out on a three-year loan at AC Milan, Brahim is finally making waves at the Bernabeu with impressive performances whenever he steps in for the likes of the injured Jude Bellingham or comes off the bench as a supersub.
On Tuesday evening, he scored the only goal of the game as Los Blancos earned a 1-0 advantage over RB Leipzig in the Champions League last 16 first leg.
Before that, when Vinicius Jr. left the derby’s starting line up minutes before kick off almost a fortnight ago, the 24-year-old was again the only Madrid player to get off the mark with his opener in an eventual 1-1 draw enough to salvage a point against Diego Simeone’s men.
In light of his current form, Brahim is giving head coach Carlo Ancelotti something to think about while Rodrygo is out of sorts and suffering a bit of a slump.
Just like the Brazilian, however, whose father famously agreed for the youngster to join FC Barcelona only to have his head turned by Madrid president Florentino Perez at the last minute, Brahim could have also joined the Catalans instead.
As SPORT explains, Brahim was being monitored by Barca as a 12-year-old at Malaga and was “delighted” by the prospect of donning Blaugrana.
Barca already had a ‘yes’ from Brahim’s father, but Malaga’s owner Sheikh Abdullah Bin Jassim Al Thani then made a “dizzying offer” to the Diaz family which convinced them to stay put.
Al Thani was later powerless when Manchester City came knocking to whisk Brahim off to the PremierPINC League.
Yet after failing to make an impact at the Etihad, Brahim was then picked up by Madrid for a relative pittance of $19.4 million (£15.5 million) in Janaury 2019 with the rest, as they say, now history.
