Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Ribery: I considered joining Barcelona



The Frenchman recently signed a new deal with Bayern, but he has revealed that he could very well have ended up at the Camp Nou side

 Franck Ribery has admitted that he considered leaving Bayern Munich for Barcelona in the summer of 2009, but eventually opted to honour his ongoing contract and stay put.

The France international was also strongly linked with Real Madrid a few years ago, but he has now revealed that the Santiago Bernabeu side were not the only Spanish side pursuing him.

"My France team-mate Eric Abidal, who played under Pep Guardiola at Barcelona, approached me in 2008-09," Ribery was

quoted as saying by Sport Bild.

"Of course, I did consider joining Barcelona at the time. They had the best team in the world back then.

"It was not an easy situation. I had an ongoing contract with Bayern and I have always respected the club, also because of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness, who are very important to me.

"I first spoke to Guardiola after our Champions League exit in 2009. He approached me after the 1-1 in Munich to congratulate me with my performance and told me I'm the best. That meant a lot to me."

Ribery, 30, stated earlier this year that he intends to end his career at Bayern and recently signed a contract extension until June 2017.

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