AWAITED THREAD

Alfredo Di Stefano's controversial transfer to Real Madrid. Was he initially supposed to sign for Barcelona?

Did Spanish dictator, General Franco, intervene and force the Argentine to sign for his 'regime club', Real Madrid?

First, I will explain how great of a player Di Stefano is (with stats), and his impact on Real Madrid.

Then, I will explain how Barcelona signed him FIRST, but he somehow ended up in Real Madrid.

Real Madrid were horrible in the league, having won LaLiga only TWICE in 24 YEARS. (1929 - 1953)

Then they signed Di Stefano in 1953, and everything changed...

Alfredo Di Stefano for Real Madrid (11 years)

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2x Balon d'Or (1x Super Balon Dor
5x Pichichi (LaLiga Top Scorer)
2x European Cup Top Scorer

5x European Cup (UCL)
8x LaLiga
1x Spanish Supercup
1x Intercontinental Cup (Club World Cup)

Real Madrid won 8/11 LaLiga titles and 5 Champions Leagues in a row...

They have been transformed into the GREATEST CLUB in Spain and Europe.

If he had gone to FC Barcelona, history would be VERY different.

That is why for the last 70 years the people of Barcelona have complained about his transfer. They feel as if they have been ROBBED of becoming the GREATEST club in history!

Let's start to EXPOSE the TRUTH.

There were 4 clubs involved in the transfer:

1. River Plate    
2. Millionarios  
3. Barcelona     
4. Real Madrid  

Di Stefano started his career at River Plate. He scored 49 goals in 66 league games and won them the league title, twice.

Then, he moved to Millionarios and won them the league title 3 times in 4 years, and became the club's 2nd highest all time goalscorer.

This outstanding player caught the eyes of many clubs in Europe, including Barcelona and Real Madrid!

TRANSFER TALKS BEGIN

NOTE

An important detail is that his transfer to Millionarios was NOT recognized by FIFA because the Colombian league was NOT an official league at the time.

If he wanted to transfer to any official club, he would first have to return to River Plate.

In 1953, Barcelona made the first move to sign him. They approached River Plate as they believed his current club, Millionarios, were irrelevant in the deal. They reached an agreement with River Plate and everything was set for Di Stefano to move to Barca in 1954.

Job done?

The board of FC Barcelona had already made a mistake...

There was a clause in the contract which states "having overcome any difficulties that could arise from his presence in Colombia. Otherwise, the agreement would be rescinded."

This clause basically says if his current club, Millionarios, has any issues with the deal, then the deal will be cancelled.

Barca, like I already mentioned, did not believe Millionarios were relevant in the deal, so they gave Millionarios a terrible offer.

The offer was so low... it was almost insulting . The disprespect made Millionarios reluctant about the move.

This is when Real Madrid took advantage of the situation!

Real Madrid approached Millionarios (his current club) and reached an agreement with them. Then they contacted River Plate to finalize the transfer, but River Plate said they have already reached an agreement with Barca..

So quick SUMMARY of EVERYTHING I just said:

- Barca agreed with River Plate
- Madrid agreed with Millionarios

River Plate is his OFFICIAL club considered by FIFA.

However, the contract Barca/River Plate signed acknowledges Millionarios as part of the deal.

So what now????

Millionarios REFUSED to let him go as they were frustrated with Barcelona's insulting low offer.

What a stupid and avoidable mistake from the Barcelona board! They had the money to give them a good offer!

At this point, FIFA and The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) considered Di Stefano both a Barcelona and Real Madrid player, so they made a compromise that he would play for both clubs in alternating seasons.

(Season 1: Barcelona, Season 2: Real Madrid, Season 3: Barcelona etc)

Barcelona refused to accept this compromise, so they decided to sell their share of Di Stefano to Real Madrid and let them have the player.

The were left humiliated and the Barcelona president, Marti Carreto was forced to resign after this failure.

All they had to do was give Millionarios a decent offer and they would have 100% SECURED DI STEFANO. Their arrogance costed them...

Arguably the most fatal mistake in football history.

END OF THREAD.

Sources (before ppl start crying that I made this up...):

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/28204560

https://www.cricketsoccer.com/2020/03/01/the-signing-of-alfredo-di-stefano-to-real-madrid/

https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/08/07/inenglish/1502105310_659695.html

(most reliable, but others are all good too and said almost exactly the same thing)