Barcelona tried 'to sell Sergi Roberto' before his breakthrough this season

Roberto has impressed at right-back this season and has also claimed a league-high four assists although a report in Sport outlines how the club would have sold him had it not been for their ban on registering players.

In the summer of 2015, the club reportedly met with the 24-year-old’s agent Josep Maria Orobitg to tell him that the player had no long-term future at the club, and they would happily facilitate either a permanent or loan move for him.

However, with the Catalan club’s ban on registering newly signed players, Luis Enrique opted to keep the Masia youth graduate as a temporary back-up for Dani Alves at full-back, despite Roberto’s most natural role being as a central midfielder with the youth teams.

The report goes on to say that once Aleix Vidal’s clearance to play had been received in January 2016, then Roberto would be sold.

Due to injuries last season to Alves and a small squad, the youth graduate ended up making 49 appearances for the club and going into this campaign he was preferred to Vidal at right-back following the departure of Alves to Juventus.

Read the original article on Football Espana - The ultimate website for English-speaking fans of Spanish football