FC Barcelona Rejected Real Madrid Legend Toni Kroos, Reveals ...

FC Barcelona missed out on the chance to sign Real Madrid legend Toni Kroos in 2014, as explained by ... [+] Catalan journalist Ramon Besa during an appearance on Cadena SER.

FC Barcelona missed out on the chance to sign Real Madrid legend Toni Kroos in 2014, as explained by Catalan journalist Ramon Besa during an appearance on Cadena SER.

Kroos announced this week that he will retire from football following the European Championships.

His final match at the Bernabeu will be Saturday's La Liga season closer against Sevilla, and the last time he will be seen in the Los Blancos shirt will be on June 1 when he faces compatriots Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League decider that offers him the chance to equal Paco Gento as the competition's most successful player of all time with six European Cup crowns.

Had things been done right, though, we could have easily witnessed Kroos pulling the strings from midfield in the Blaugrana jersey of Madrid's eternal rival FC Barcelona, as Besa explained.

"I remember the case of Kroos a lot, because I asked [Pep] Guardiola when he left Bayern [Munich] and he presented himself as an alternative who could sign for Barcelona or Madrid," Besa said.

"The player had the idea of leaving Bayern and was not very sure whether to go to Madrid or Barca. Barcelona didn't know how to push, they thought they had alternative players. There was even talk of [Sergi] Samper's case as an alternative to the midfielders [they had].

"Kroos was dismissed. Guardiola warned that he was a very interesting player and for whatever circumstances he opted for Madrid.

"Barca didn't know how to want him or offer him what he wanted," Besa added, before concluding that Kroos "has triumphed at Madrid in an extraordinary way".

That is of course an understatement, with, as briefly touched on, Kroos adding four UCL titles to the one he won at Bayern in 2013 and becoming Spanish champion four times at the Bernabeu as well.

If not one of the greatest ever, he also turned into arguably the greatest midfielder of his generation in Madrid with qualities that his manager Carlo Ancelotti said on Friday are almost impossible to replace.

While Barca indeed dropped the ball by not pursuing Kroos, however, it must be noted that they already boasted the likes of Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets at the time he became available, with further strength in depth offered by Ivan Rakitic.

In Kroos' first season at Madrid, Barca of course won a treble under Luis Enrique though that would be the last time that they ruled the continent until now.