‘It’s crazy to think I was linked with Barcelona, but you can’t let yourself dwell on these things’ Max Aarons opens up on his Camp Nou move that never happened

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The Bournemouth defender was wanted by the Catalan side back in 2020

Max Aarons
Max Aarons has opened up on his mooted move to Barcelona (Image credit: PA)

Football history has more than its fair share of 'Sliding Doors Moments'.

What if Manchester United had chosen to bin a toiling Alex Ferguson in 1989? What if Big Sam had turned down that pint of wine in 2016? What if Roman Abramovich had opted to buy Tottenham instead of Chelsea in 2003?

Max Aarons on his Barcelona move that never happened

Max Aarons, Norwich

Max Aarons was one of the most highly-rated young English defenders during his time at Norwich (Image credit: PA)

The same goes for players, where a certain transfer can make or break their career, while the collapse of a move can also linger long in the memory and leave all parties wondering ‘what if?’

One such example of this was Max Aarons' proposed move to Barcelona back in 2020, when the young English defender was turning heads for Norwich City in the Championship.

Barcelona, Camp Nou

Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium (Image credit: PA)

Aarons had broken into the Canaries first-team in 2018, with an England under-21 debut following in September 2019. As the former Luton Town youth product established himself as one of the country’s best young prospects, Barcelona were on the lookout for a new right-back, having just sold Nelson Semedo to Wolves in September 2020.

“It was very close,” Aarons tells FourFourTwo. “It’s crazy when I think about it.

“From what I heard, it was a loan with an option to buy, but didn’t happen in the end. You can’t let yourself dwell on these things as a professional.”

Barcelona would instead move for Ajax’s Sergino Dest in a €21million deal, ending Aaron’s chances of lining up alongside Lionel Messi and company.

Did that make it tough for Aarons to re-focus on that Championship season with Norwich?

Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring for Barcelona against Deportivo Alaves in the 2017 Copa del Rey final.

Aarons missed out on the chance to call Lionel Messi a team-mate (Image credit: Getty Images)

“No, because I knew how valued I was and our coach, Daniel Farke, was very good with me,” Aarons adds. “Throughout a lot of the transfer talk he allowed me to just focus on the next game, on training, and never allowed me to get ahead of myself.

“I felt I owed the club too. They had done a lot for me from a young age and I loved the people there. I’ll always have a special place for Norwich in my heart.”

Aarons did eventually leave Carrow Road in the summer of 2023, when he joined Premier League Bournemouth in a £7 million move. A six-month loan move to Valencia in January 2025 meant that he did get a taste of LaLiga action, with Aarons currently enjoying a season-long loan stint at Rangers.

Joe Mewis
Joe Mewis

For more than a decade, Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor. Mewis has had stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others and worked at FourFourTwo throughout Euro 2024, reporting on the tournament. In addition to his journalist work, Mewis is also the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team. Now working as a digital marketing coordinator at Harrogate Town, too, Mewis counts some of his best career moments as being in the iconic Spygate press conference under Marcelo Bielsa and seeing his beloved Leeds lift the Championship trophy during lockdown.

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