Barca legend Carles Puyol was desperate to sign him: Barcelona apparently considered former international player | Goal.com
In an interview on the Never Talk Alone by DAZN format, Wittmann revealed he would have loved to handle the former midfielder's move to the Catalans, but the deal collapsed just before it was completed.
"Jermaine Jones was supposed to move to Barcelona and nobody knew that at the time," explained Wittmann. He said an agreement between the parties was "close".
On Barca's side, club legend Carles Puyol was apparently the driving force. The former Barcelona captain was working in 2014, shortly after the end of his playing career, as assistant to Barca's then sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta.
"Puyol was the boss at the time. Even so, it didn't really work out in the end. For that time, it was already an extraordinary transfer," said Wittmann.
Jones moved from Schalke 04 to Besiktas Istanbul in January 2014, but stayed with the Turkish top club for only half a year before moving on to New England Revolution in the MSL that summer.
Across spells with S04, Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Jones made 165 Bundesliga appearances, scoring nine goals and providing 13 assists.
Internationally, Jones won three caps for Germany. In 2009, he switched association and went on to play for the United States national team. With the North Americans, he took part in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
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