{"id":1112928,"date":"2019-10-29T12:29:04","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T12:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1112928"},"modified":"2019-10-29T12:29:04","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T12:29:04","slug":"carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Vela &#8220;was really close&#8221; to joining Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde confirms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has revealed Los Angeles FC forward\u00a0Carlos Vela came &#8220;really close&#8221; to joining his side on loan last January. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Spanish coach was in hot pursuit of a short-term striking option during the 2018\/19 winter window, eventually landing\u00a0Kevin-Prince Boateng.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why were Barcelona in desperate need of a striker? Five things to know&#8230;<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Valverde\u00a0was in need of emergency cover up front following the sale of Munir to Sevilla.<\/li>\n<li>He was left with Luis Suarez as his only fit, senior centre-forward.<\/li>\n<li>As such Barca explored the possibility of signing a short-term No. 9.<\/li>\n<li>Vela has impressed in the MLS since relocating from Real Sociedad in January 2018.<\/li>\n<li>However, Valverde opted for Boateng but has since revealed &#8216;talks&#8217; did transpire with the Mexican.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"background-color: transparent; display: block; padding: 0; max-width: 700px;\" title=\"Audioboom player\" src=\"https:\/\/embeds.audioboom.com\/posts\/7405357\/embed\/v4\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The former Ghana international joined on a six-month loan deal from\u00a0Sassuolo, but having featured just four times, Barca opted against making his temporary stint a permanent one in the summer and he has since joined\u00a0Fiorentina.<\/p>\n<p>Valverde sought to bolster his frontline after the sale of\u00a0Munir to Sevilla left him with just one\u00a0senior striker available, in Luis Suarez, but according to the 55-year-old his emergency cover could have been in the form of Vela rather than Boateng.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember that last year was an option that emerged and there was talk about it, but now we are not in the transfer market but we have the players we have,\u201d Valverde told reporters.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Know Your Squad: \u2018Xhaka?!\u2019 Arsenal fans quizzed w\/Sophie Rose\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bsij4XsIbDk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Subscribe to <a href=\"http:\/\/sqwk.at\/Squawka-Sub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Squawka\u2019s Youtube channel here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Vela:\u00a0It was really close<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The\u00a0Los Angeles FC forward has also gone on record to explain just how close he came with a return to La Liga.<\/p>\n<p>Vela has revealed he was enjoying the second month of his holiday when the phone rang from Catalonia, and despite telling his representative that he was keen on a move, Barca ultimately signed Boateng.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was really close,\u201d Vela <a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-loan-move-last-season\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy second month for holidays, I was there with my pi\u00f1a colada and my agent called me to say \u2018look, Barcelona is calling you. They want you to play for four months then you can go back to LA\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said just say yes, I don\u2019t care about the money or nothing. I\u2019m going to start training tomorrow, give me two weeks to be a little bit fit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBarcelona, Real Madrid you can\u2019t say no. \u2026 If it was only my choice, for sure, I\u2019d take it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has revealed Los Angeles FC forward\u00a0Carlos Vela came &#8220;really close&#8221; to joining his side on loan last January. \u00a0 The Spanish coach was in hot pursuit of a short-term striking option during the 2018\/19 winter window, eventually landing\u00a0Kevin-Prince Boateng. Why were Barcelona in desperate need of a striker? Five things to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":1112929,"parent":0,"menu_order":4525,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has revealed Los Angeles FC forward\u00a0Carlos Vela came \"really close\" to joining his side last season.","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"news-category":[],"class_list":["post-1112928","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"external_featured_image_url":"","hide_featured_image_pattern":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Carlos Vela &quot;was really close&quot; to joining Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde confirms | Squawka | EN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has revealed Los Angeles FC forward\u00a0Carlos Vela came &quot;really close&quot; to joining his side last season.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Carlos Vela &quot;was really close&quot; to joining Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde confirms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has revealed Los Angeles FC forward\u00a0Carlos Vela came &quot;really close&quot; to joining his side last season.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Squawka | EN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/29102712\/PA-47897041.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"4000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@squawka\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ben Green\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7b33a00558813314a222ac17c7bd478c\"},\"headline\":\"Carlos Vela &#8220;was really close&#8221; to joining Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde confirms\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-29T12:29:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/\"},\"wordCount\":420,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/29102712\/PA-47897041.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/\",\"name\":\"Carlos Vela \\\"was really close\\\" to joining Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde confirms | Squawka | EN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/29102712\/PA-47897041.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-29T12:29:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has revealed Los Angeles FC forward\u00a0Carlos Vela came \\\"really close\\\" to joining his side last season.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/29102712\/PA-47897041.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/29102712\/PA-47897041.jpg\",\"width\":4000,\"height\":2667},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Squawka\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Carlos Vela &#8220;was really close&#8221; to joining Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde confirms\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Squawka | EN\",\"description\":\"Football News, Stats, and More...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7b33a00558813314a222ac17c7bd478c\",\"name\":\"Ben Green\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ben Green\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/BenMGreen95\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/author\/ben-green\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Carlos Vela \"was really close\" to joining Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde confirms | Squawka | EN","description":"Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has revealed Los Angeles FC forward\u00a0Carlos Vela came \"really close\" to joining his side last season.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Carlos Vela \"was really close\" to joining Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde confirms","og_description":"Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has revealed Los Angeles FC forward\u00a0Carlos Vela came \"really close\" to joining his side last season.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/","og_site_name":"Squawka | EN","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/","og_image":[{"width":4000,"height":2667,"url":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/29102712\/PA-47897041.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@squawka","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/"},"author":{"name":"Ben Green","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7b33a00558813314a222ac17c7bd478c"},"headline":"Carlos Vela &#8220;was really close&#8221; to joining Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde confirms","datePublished":"2019-10-29T12:29:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/"},"wordCount":420,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/29102712\/PA-47897041.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/","url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/","name":"Carlos Vela \"was really close\" to joining Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde confirms | Squawka | EN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/29102712\/PA-47897041.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-29T12:29:04+00:00","description":"Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has revealed Los Angeles FC forward\u00a0Carlos Vela came \"really close\" to joining his side last season.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/29102712\/PA-47897041.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/29102712\/PA-47897041.jpg","width":4000,"height":2667},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/carlos-vela-really-close-barcelona-ernesto-valverde\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Squawka","item":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Carlos Vela &#8220;was really close&#8221; to joining Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde confirms"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/","name":"Squawka | EN","description":"Football News, Stats, and More...","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7b33a00558813314a222ac17c7bd478c","name":"Ben Green","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ben Green"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/BenMGreen95"],"url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/author\/ben-green\/"}]}},"yoast_title":"","yoast_description":"Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has revealed Los Angeles FC forward\u00a0Carlos Vela came \"really close\" to joining his side last season.","yoast_keyword":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1112928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1112928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1112929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1112928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1112928"},{"taxonomy":"news-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-category?post=1112928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}