Barcelona let Marco Asensio get away in favour of signing Douglas
Barcelona's summer transfer activity continues to provoke debate. There are injured players, those that have still not shown the necessary form to prove they can adapt to a club like Barcelona and now there is the one that got away - in the direction of the Santiago Bernabeu.
With Thomas Vermaelen about to enter the operating room, the comparison between Douglas and Marco Asensio stings. They don't occupy the same position, but still, one continues to fuel doubts and the other is proving at Mallorca that he is one of the most promising players in Spanish football.
To understand the signing of Douglas it is necessary to remember the conditions hindering Barça in August. Planning for FIFA's transfer ban and Dani Alves' exit, they had to find an option within their finances to fill the right side.
And so Douglas arrived. The club's scouts had drawn up a list of names and, according to sources inside the club, it was Luis Enrique who chose Douglas. There was no resistance from anyone else and a deal of €4million was struck to bring Douglas to the club.
It was also Luis Enrique who gave the OK for Douglas to arrive earlier than initially planned. He wanted to accelerate the Brazilian's integration into European football and Barça's system.
Luis Enrique was always clear, though, that he couldn't promise Douglas minutes this season; he never makes promises he can't fulfill.
But the signing of Douglas did complicate another deal in August: Marco Asensio. Mallorca wanted €4million from the off, but Barça, as is usual, tried to construct a deal in variables.
From that point on, both sides of the story differ. Barça insist it was Aouate, then general manager of Mallorca, who changed the payment structure and on the last day of the market demanded the full fee in cash.
Sources close to Aouate have always defended that Barça were the ones altering things and the general manager wouldn't compromised on the final price. Marco Asensio remained at Mallorca.
