Barcelona reportedly chose to pursue Ousmane Dembele instead of Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe in 2017.
Mbappe was the star of the show for PSG with a hat-trick in Tuesday's Champions League last-16 first leg at Camp Nou.
Barca were previously linked with the France international four years ago, only to instead move for Borussia Dortmund's Dembele instead in a £135m deal.
According to football agent Junior Minguella, the Catalan giants even had a deal in place to sign Mbappe before the teenage forward eventually swapped Monaco for PSG.
Speaking to Marca, Minguella said: "The moment it is confirmed that Neymar was leaving, the coaches and the president [Josep Maria Bartomeu] had doubts about the player they want to bring in.
"They believed that Dembele was better suited to the team's style of play than Mbappe. Some even went so far as to say that this Mbappe was a ghost.
"We had the deal done at €130m, plus €25m in add-ons. Mbappe would earn between €10-16m net."
When Minguella's transfer claims were doubted on social media, he posted screengrabs from an alleged WhatsApp conversation with Barca sporting director Javier Bordas.
While Mbappe's career has gone from strength to strength since joining PSG, Dembele's time at Barcelona has been badly affected by injuries, the Frenchman having been restricted to 101 appearances in four seasons.
Daniel Lewis
