Laporta says Barca's hopes of beating Spursr to Lucas Bergvall are not dead

Barcelona President Joan Laporta is not yet giving up hope of signing Swedish talent Lucas Bergvall, despite multiple reports that he will turn down the Blaugrana for Tottenham Hotspur.

The Blaugrana thought they were close to a deal with Bergvall, having agreed terms with both the player and Djurgardens. However Spurs emerged in the final days of the transfer market, offering more money and a more important role in the first team, while Dejan Kulusevski, who came through the same academy as Bergvall at Brommapojkarna, was also working to persuade him to head to London.

Late on Thursday night multiple journalists reported that the case was closed, and Bergvall would sign for Tottenham after his family had been persuaded that theirs was the better offer. Speaking to RAC1 on Friday morning though, Laporta admitted it could be difficult, but was still holding out hope.

“He is a great player, whom Deco has been following for a long time. As far as I’m aware he hasn’t signed anything with anyone yet. We made an offer, we had everything agreed with him and with the club. Tottenham has made him an offer with much more money. Our proposal is to play in the reserve team while working with the dynamics of the first team, but we are not going to make Tottenham’s financial offer.”

After missing out on Argentine wonderkid Claudio Echeverri, and seemingly giving up hope for 16-year-old Brazilian Estevao Willian, the Blaugrana thought they had made their mark, but it seems Bergvall too will head elsewhere as things stand.