Tuesday, 24th September, 2013
Pepe Reina had verbally agreed to join Barcelona this summer to succeed Victor Valdes, but the Spain shot-stopper staying put at the Camp Nou scuppered the deal.
According to Spanish daily El Mundo Deportivo, Reina was fully prepared to leave Liverpool for Barcelona this summer.
But the custodian was not the only goalkeeper to give an unwritten undertaking to Barcelona, with Marc-Andre ter Stegen fully willing to swap Borussia Monchengladbach for the Camp Nou too.
A deal for either was ended though when Valdes ruled out leaving Barcelona this summer and pledged to see out his contract, which runs until 2014, with the Catalan giants.
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Reina ended up joining Napoli on a season-long loan from Liverpool, who bought Simon Mignolet from Sunderland.
Ter Stegan meanwhile stayed at Gladbach and continues to be rated as a potential Valdes successor by Barcelona.
The final decision over who takes over from Valdes between the sticks now lies with Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino.
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