Barcelona have had some of the best players in history play for them over the years, including the greatest footballer ever, Lionel Messi.
Along with the Argentine, players such as Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Luis Suarez, Diego Maradona and many more have graced the Camp Nou in Blaugrana colours.
However, there has always been one position in which Barcelona never had a wealth of legendary talent and that is with goalkeepers.
Andoni Zubizarreta and Victor Valdes are probably the standout, but neither are in the debate for the greatest keepers of all time
That could have been a very different story though, as one of the best keepers to play the game, Gianluigi Buffon, has revealed how close he was to joining Barcelona in 2001.
“When I was 23 and playing for Parma, Barcelona were interested in me,” Buffon said in a recent interview, cited by Managing Barca.
“I asked my father and agent to take care of everything but in the end I decided to join Juventus because we had the ambition to win Serie A after several years without winning it.”
Fortunately, Valdes was still a very good goalkeeper and proved his worth by being an important part of some of the best teams ever.
Who knows, things could have been different with Buffon, or they could have been the same. I guess we will never know.
