Bojan Krkic has now admitted that he warned Yan Couto not to join Manchester City.
The 33-year-old made the comments when speaking to Cadena SER.
So, what did Bojan Krkic say about Manchester City and Yan Couto? Let’s take a look…
What Bojan said about Yan Couto
Well, Manchester City very nearly missed out on the Brazil international.
Bojan said: “He came with his family and his agent to Barcelona to sit down and talk to us… see the facilities, hear the club’s intentions, but it was a stopover. He was going to see Manchester City and Bayern later.
“I was having lunch with him, and I told his agent, I know you’re going to Manchester and Munich, but he thinks he’s a Barça player. I told him, look at the young City players who have come up to the first team. At that time not one… but they went to Manchester and signed.
“In fact, the boy told me, I want to play here (Barcelona) but then what happened, happened.”
Manchester City eventually managed to wrap up a £3.5m deal with Coritiba for Couto’s services, before sending him on loan to Girona.
The 21-year-old also spent a season on loan at Braga before returning to Girona on another loan deal for the current 2023/24 campaign, where he is now shining.
Couto has scored one goal and provided six assists across 16 appearances as Girona sit top of La Liga.
It does sound as if the South American came extremely close to joining Barcelona, as the right-back himself admitted he was expecting to sign for the Spanish giants before Pep Guardiola called him.
Manchester City should be delighted to have Yan Couto
Clearly, Manchester City had many obstacles in the way of signing Couto, but Txiki Begiristain should feel delighted to have overcome those issues to get his man.
Spanish news outlet Mundo Deportivo recently described the Brazilian as “one of the sensations” of the season as he plays a key role in Girona’s surprise title charge.
For Couto to be performing like this at the age of just 21 is highly impressive – if he can continue developing at this rate, he could even be the long term replacement for Kyle Walker.
