Chris Dunlavy

With the greatest of respect to Bournemouth, they are not Barcelona. So how did Norwich’s Max Aarons, once a target for the Spanish giants, end up joining the Cherries for just £7m?
In such situations, you could assume that Aarons was overhyped or that the supposed interest was a fantasy dreamt up by agents.

But Barcelona really did make two offers for Aarons in the summer of 2020, neither of which met City’s valuation. The following year it was Dortmund who came knocking, then Atalanta, Monza and Roma. Last January, two Premier League clubs made concrete approaches.

The re...