Tottenham Hotspur's new recruit Lucas Bergvall has confirmed that he turned down the opportunity to join Barcelona in favour of securing a move to North London.
The 18-year-old appeared to be closing in on a transfer to Camp Nou at the end of last month, with reports claiming that Barca had reached an agreement with Swedish club Djurgardens IF to sign the midfielder for an initial €7m (£6m).
However, Spurs successfully hijacked the deal and swooped in to win the race for the signature of Bergvall, who has penned a five-year contract with the Premier League club.
Tottenham, who have allegedly agreed to pay around £8.5m to sign Bergvall in July, unveiled their latest signing almost 24 hours after the winter transfer window slammed shut.
Bergvall has expressed his delight for joining Spurs, but he has admitted that he was presented with a "50-50" choice over joining either Ange Postecoglou's side or reigning La Liga champions Barcelona.
Lucas Bergvall: Signed and sealed ✍️ pic.twitter.com/B5jjCPuA8c
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 2, 2024
"It was a very difficult choice, it was 50-50 for a very long time, but it felt like the next step for me was Tottenham," Bergvall told reporters as quoted by football.london.
"It was not very easy to say no to Barcelona, it took a very long time to decide. It was a tough decision. [The transfer to Tottenham] felt better in the stomach. They are both incredible clubs."
Bergvall has also revealed that he held a "persuasive talk" with Sweden international teammate and Tottenham winger Dejan Kulusevski prior to finalising his move to North London.
"We talked a little before. In general, how the club works, how they work, how they train, what the days look like," said the teenager.
© Reuters
"It wasn't a persuasive talk like that. He just said the club was great and I noticed that when I got there. I got an incredible reception, it's a very family club but incredible people.
"He was there and came by for five to 10 minutes and we talked a bit. Me and Dejan have had contact before. Both are from [Swedish club Brommapojkarna] so we have had contact before and I met him when I was trialling with Juventus in 2020."
Bergvall will spend the rest of the 2023-24 campaign with Swedish top-flight club Djurgardens, where he has made 29 first-team appearances since and including his debut in January last year.
The box-to-box midfielder, who made his international debut for Sweden in a 2-1 friendly win over Estonia on January 12, is currently with Djurgardens in pre-season ahead of the start of the 2024 Allsvenskan season, which begins at the end of March.
Oliver Thomas
