10 Players Who Rejected Barcelona
2. Alfredo di Stefano
Regarded as arguably the finest player to have ever donned the famous white strip of Los Blancos, Alfredo di Stefano enjoyed an extraordinary career at the Santiago Bernabeu. Although he has since been surpassed by Raul, he set a club goalscoring record of 216 league goals in 262 appearances, striking up a deadly and prolific partnership with Hungarian hit-man Ferenc Puskas. Di Stefano bagged an incredible 49 goals in 58 European Cup matches - another record that was held until it was eventually surpassed by Raul in 2005, and later Andriy Shevchenko and Ruud van Nistelrooy. A scorer in five consecutive European Cup finals, including a hat-trick in the 7-3 demolition of Eintracht Frankfurt, elevated him to god-like status in the Spanish capital, and he finished his career with two Ballon dOrs to his name.
However, it could all have been so different for the Argentinian Spaniard gone through with his decision to join Barcelona instead. Having arrived in Spain in 1953, the Argentine-born striker headed to Catalonia, where Los Blaugrana were on the cusp of signing him. In a premature move, the club even posted a photograph of Di Stefano in a Barcelona strip on their website.
However, with Argentine side River Plate claiming that he was still their player, the Catalan giants attempted to negotiate a deal with the Argentine side but failed to reach any such agreement with Columbian side Millonarios - who he had been sold to. Subsequently, the Columbians sold the rights it claimed to Real Madrid, and the deal was dead.
''All possible obstacles were put in Barcas way to stop it signing Di Stefano when it had followed the correct procedures in negotiating with River Plate, his rightful employer. - Journalist Jordi Finestres, July 2014.