The football world celebrated Andres Iniesta this week as the Spanish icon announced his retirement from the game. Over his legendary career, he won numerous trophies with Barcelona, including four Champions League titles. He also won a World Cup and two EURO Championships with Spain. But did you know, he nearly joined Real Madrid early on in his career?
It was back in 2006. Florentino Perez had resigned as Real Madrid president amid a lack of trophies at the club. One of the candidates to replace him was Juan Palacios.
Palacios surrounded himself with Fernando Fernandez-Tapias and illustrious Real Madrid fans such as Jose Antonio Camacho, Pirri, Del Bosque, Míchel, Garcia Remon and Angel Nieto. And that could have led to Iniesta joining Los Blancos.
As reported by AS, Camacho took advantage of his friendship with Iniesta’s family to pull a string with the Spanish midfielder to sign for Real Madrid in the event of Palacios’ electoral victory. They were ready to shell out €60 million, his release clause at Barcelona.
Real Madrid nearly signed Barcelona legend in €60m deal
It is worth pointing out that Iniesta was not an undroppable at Barcelona at that time. In fact, he was left out of the starting XI in the 2006 UEFA Champions League. Also, one cannot forget that while growing up, he is also believed to have had a soft spot for Real Madrid.
Unfortunately, Palacios failed to win the election. Instead, it was Ramon Calderon who became president of Real Madrid after winning by a margin of 246 votes.
Calderon’s run as Real Madrid president did not prove to be a long one either and eventually Perez returned. On the other hand, Iniesta remained at Barcelona, where he would go on to play an integral role in one of the greatest club teams in history.
