Real Madrid News
Barcelona fan favourite reveals he would have joined Real Madrid after 2018 trials
Speaking in an interview with ICON magazine (h/t Mundo Deportivo), Barcelona midfield mainstay Pedri has revealed that he would have signed for Real Madrid if the club had accepted him after undergoing trials.
Before signing for Barcelona from Las Palmas in 2019, Pedri had a trial at Real Madrid to join the club’s Cadete A team. The trials were held in February 2018 but after that, Los Blancos decided against not signing the 19-year-old.
A year later, Pedri signed for Barça and spent the 2019/20 season on loan at Las Palmas before ending up at Camp Nou in 2020.
Pedri has always maintained that Barcelona are his dream club and that he idolised Andres Iniesta from a very young age. But the youngster revealed in the interview that he would have signed for Real Madrid if the club had accepted him after the trials.
“I think so. My ambition was make my way as a professional footballer and it would have been very difficult to refuse the offer of one of the greats in the history of this sport,” Pedri said.
However, there was no offer forthcoming from Los Blancos, and Pedri admits that it worked out well for him as he ended up at his ‘dream club’.
“That train passed and two years later I ended up signing for the team of my dreams. I’ve always said it, I’ve been a Barça fan since I was a little boy.”
Since joining Barcelona, Pedri has developed into one of the best young midfielders in Europe and is a permanent fixture in the starting XI for club and country.
While there may be some regrets in the Real Madrid camp on passing up the chance to sign him, the Merengues are building their own top midfield unit with youngsters like Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni, to which they also plan to add Jude Bellingham in 2023.
Real Madrid are blessed to have the services and loyalty of Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. The duo have run the show in the Merengues’ midfield for close to a decade and continue to deliver flawless performances to date.
Of the two, however, it is the Croatian who deserves the higher credit. The veteran is now 37 years of age, yet dominates the middle of the park with grace and poise like none other.
Stephen Estuaqio, an FC Porto player and Canada International, spoke earlier this week about why he considered Luka Modric to be a special player and compared him with Kevin de Bruyne to support his stance.
“I played against De Bruyne, but I ran behind Modrić. I couldn’t play against him. It’s crazy how he dictates the game and controls everything. It was a lesson for me,” he said on The 90th minute on Youtube.
With his contract running out next season, Real Madrid are looking to renew his deal by one year come June. Yet, it is difficult to see him continue beyond next season and his imminent departure will mark the end of an era at the club.
Thus, Modric could be an altered role come next season. With a young midfielder, possibly Jude Bellingham set to arrive, the veteran could move into a mentorship role with the occasional appearance in big games.
This season, however, Carlo Ancelotti will continue to use him as one of the backbones of the side and deploy the maestro in the must-win fixtures coming up later this month.
At 37 years of age, Modric has started 16 La Liga games over 24 appearances this season in the competition. He has scored four goals and provided three assists in that process in addition to creating eight big chances with an average of 1.8 key passes per game.
