Kubo Delivers Knockout Blow To Barcelona

Still only 18 years of age, Takefusa Kubo has got everyone at Real Madrid excited.

The Japanese player is on loan at Mallorca from Real Madrid, the two teams meeting this weekend, but he should never have been allowed to slip through former club Barcelona's fingers.

Recent comments from the player himself, however, suggests that the Catalans took their eye off of the ball and only have themselves to blame.

He joined the blaugrana way back in 2011 and scored more than two goals per game in his first full season at Barcelona's academy. Not bad for an attacking midfielder!

His star continued to rise as he ascended through the junior ranks at the club, but in 2015 Barcelona were found guilty of violating FIFA's transfer policy for U18 players, and Kubo had to return home.

It's been a relatively long journey to get back to the top, but when it became apparent that the player was on his way back to Europe in 2019, Barca were nowhere to be seen.

Sensing a strategic opportunity, Real Madrid swooped, and a deal was tied up relatively quickly.

Although originally signed for their U19 side, Kubo so impressed Real's staff in pre-season training that he was quickly integrated into the first-team set up, where they too were equally enamoured.

Knowing that he wouldn't get near the first-team proper this season, a decision was made to send him on loan, and newly-promoted Mallorca seemed a perfect fit.

But what of the lack of interest from his former team?

"I really liked Real Madrid's goal in a sporting sense, the plan they had for me for the next few years, and what they thought about me for the future," Kubo recently told Spanish media.

"Real were clear that they wanted to sign me and that convinced me."

Given Kubo's potential and a projection in terms of playing time that's expected to skyrocket over the next few years, it's a mystery as to why Barcelona weren't more open to finding him a place at either Barca B or their U19 side.

Kubo noted that there simply wasn't any dialogue at all with his former team.

It was, and is known that Lionel Messi is his idol, and even a quick message from the Argentinian may have been all it needed to help seal any deal.

Perhaps the club putting all its energy into trying to re-sign Neymar, a move that was doomed to failure from the beginning, meant that focus had to be shifted elsewhere.

In any event, for the blaugranes to have to hear those words: "Real were clear that they wanted to sign me and that convinced me," will still hurt.

And it will only add fuel to the fire for those Barcelona supporters who want the current board on their way as quickly as possible, and preferably before the next presidential elections in 2021.