Reports: Pep Guardiola wanted to sign Barcelona star Luis Suarez, Neymar, and five other superstars at Bayern Munich
Former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola reportedly wanted to sign Luis Suarez, Neymar, and a host of other superstars during his time at Bayern Munich.
The Catalan spent three trophy-laden years with the Bavarian giants, where he guided them to three consecutive Bundesliga titles. Due his failure to win the UEFA Champions League with Bayern Munich, his time in Germany is widely considered an unsuccessful spell.
However, it has now been revealed that the ex-Barcelona coach requested the signing of seven superstars at Bayern Munich to help them conquer Europe.
Barcelona striker Suarez, Neymar, and more: Guardiola's seven requests at Bayern Munich
According to the book 'Inside Bayern Munich' written German football journalist Christian Falk, Pep Guardiola asked for the signings of seven superstars at the Allianz Arena.
The seven names, according to the German, were Luis Suarez, Neymar, Paul Pogba, Marco Verratti, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, and Eden Hazard.
Guardiola was hopeful of signing Suarez when he was into his second season with current English champions Liverpool in 2014. However, he eventually moved to Barcelona to play alongside Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr. The Brazilian's controversial move to Barcelona, for which they had to fend off interest from Real Madrid, gave Bayern Munich no chance of signing him.
Current Los Blancos star Eden Hazard had established himself as one of the best players in the world during his time at Chelsea in the Premier League. The Belgian completed his dream move to the Santiago Bernabeu last summer for a fee upwards of £100m.
Marco Verratti was viewed as a primary target for Barcelona in the summer of 2017, but they failed to get him out of the French capital. As a result of the tensions between Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, the French champions chose to activate Neymar's €222m release clause, taking Barcelona's prized asset away.
Paul Pogba moved back to his former club Manchester United two years after Guardiola's departure from Bayern Munich. The Red Devils repurchased the Frenchman for a whopping £89m fee, a world-record at the time.
Interestingly, the former Barcelona manager went on to work with two of the players he requested Bayern Munich for — De Bruyne and Sterling — at Manchester City.
The 49-year-old eventually left Bayern Munich after three seasons, winning a total of six trophies in that period. Has seen a great amount of expenditure at Manchester City as well, and like his expensive spell in Germany, he is yet to deliver the UCL at the Etihad so far.
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