Luis Suárez confirms Real Madrid were ready to sell Karim Benzema to sign him | OneFootball

Former Barcelona star Luis Suárez has this weekend revealed how close he came to signing for Real Madrid.

Frontman Suárez, of course, is widely considered to be one of the standout players in not only the history of Barcelona, but Spanish football as a whole.

Across a six-year stretch between 2014 and 2020, the Uruguayan racked up over 300 appearances in the colours of the Blaugrana, notching an eye-watering 209 goals along the way.

As much proved pivotal to the Catalan giants’ collective success, too, en route to four La Liga titles, four Copa del Rey crowns, two Spanish Super Cups, the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup.

And yet, as alluded to above, had things played out just a little differently, Suárez could very easily have found himself lining out on the other half of the Clásico divide.

Speaking in an interview with DelSol 99.5FM on Saturday, the veteran hitman, now of Inter Miami, was drawn on the process which ultimately led to him signing for Barcelona.

And Suárez went on to reveal that, in fact, as much only arrived after he had looked all set to put pen to paper on terms with Real Madrid:

“Before the 2014 World Cup, Real Madrid wanted to sign me and everything was on track. They were planning to sell Benzema to Arsenal, it was all done. When the World Cup started, Barça joined the race, and obviously I preferred Barça. With the bite situation, Madrid lowered their interest, and Barça became more interested. In the end I had both options and I chose Barça because it was my dream.”

Conor Laird | GSFN