Roman Planes was part of the Barcelona front office from 2018 and 2021. He revealed some backstories related to a few Serie A players in an interview, starting with Lautaro Martinez: “He was very close to joining us. We had numerous meetings with his agents and Inter officials. Then, the scenario completely changed with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the deal collapsed.”
The Blaugrana also chased after Manuel Locatelli and Dusan Vlahovic. The executive told Sky Italy: “We inquired about them. The striker is very strong, and we wanted to bring him in on loan two years ago, but we were unable to. The midfielder would have been perfect because of his traits. We were in the running, but Juventus is an important team and won the race.”
Planes stated that Barcelona considered hiring Roberto De Zerbi before he left Sassuolo for Shakhtar Donetsk: “His style would have suited us since it is similar to Pep Guardiola’s one. You need that kind of philosophy in order to coach the Blaugrana, so we tracked him. I can say for certain that we held some talks to appoint him. I think he will be an option in the future too.”
The executive heaped praise on Juventus’ Champions League opponents Villarreal: “They have been the club with the best policy in recent years. As a matter of fact, they won Europe League. They rose to the top with Manuel Pellegrini. It will be a tough match for the Bianconeri and a nice game for the spectators.”