Few feelings perplex like that of Losing something you had, which is what happened to Barcelona with Take Kubo. Even more so if that something ends up making someone you would least like to do happy, in this case Madrid. The story of the Japanese ‘no’, who arrives at the Bernabéu with Mallorca this Wednesday, to play at the Camp Nou and the ‘yes’ to wear white has many details and a perhaps unforgettable problem: Barça neglected him and Madrid went out of their way to sign him.
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The beginning of the end came when Kubo, one of those harmed by the FIFA sanction on Barça, decided in 2015 to leave Spain, training at La Masia with no option to play matches, to continue enjoying football. He returned to Japan, to FC Tokyo, with a contract until June 1, 2019: on the 4th of that month and that year he would be 18 years old and, except for surprise, he would be fished by the Catalans.
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But before that many things happened, including a change in the player’s agent, which varied the script. Take’s progression was very hopeful and offers for him piled up as he came of age. Barça, alerted to the movements of PSG, who wanted to pay him a transfer to FC Tokyo in November 2018 for Kubo, invited the Japanese team in December to a match at the Camp Nou and their pearl to do a stage with the subsidiary. Bayern, Juventus or United were other of the many interested, practically the first and second row in Europe as a whole.
A meeting with Barça and Madrid’s trip to Japan
Kubo and his family were clear on how to proceed with their new representatives, Roberto Tukada and Manel Ferrer, asking to respect the rules as much as possible so as not to expose themselves to a new punishment. That is why the businessmen decided to summon the suitors to June 2019, with the attacker’s age of majority. There was only one meeting with Barça, in Barcelona, in March, with Bakero, Amor and a lawyer from the entity present. It lasted just under half an hour, They discussed the project and, with a spreadsheet with the salary ranges of the first template, the salary.
That meeting did not convince the player, whose agents informed Barça that they would do their job, part of which would be to listen to other proposals. Between them, that of Madrid, with a proper name, that of José Ángel Sánchez, madridista general director. Their intentions transferred to Tukada and Ferrer, they did the same with the footballer, who replied between disbelief and security: “Does Madrid really want me?”; “Yes,” they replied. “Well then, Madrid, only Madrid”, elected. In May, in a habitual and highly successful practice for Madrid with their goals, the managers received the player’s environment, who was delighted with the facilities and the good attunement.
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They negotiated verbally that would have to give rise to the document that linked Madrid and Kubo, which was followed by a significant sample of how the situation would evolve. Begoña Sanz, deputy general manager, and Juni Calafat, head of international football, made an almost round-trip journey to Japan to introduce themselves to Kubo and his family, explaining the project. That contrasted sharply with Barça’s strategy: Abidal was in May in the Japanese country for commercial reasons and the following preseason, but did not remember Take.
The growing rumors about PSG and Madrid by Kubo set off alarms soon after in the Camp Nou, from where, aware of the fact that it might be coming at him, several desperate calls were made. But on June 4 Take turned 18 and on 10, after a lawyer and a doctor from Madrid had traveled before the Japanese National Team traveled to the Copa América, it closed a deal that at the Bernabéu they see as exciting and worrisome in Barcelona.
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