Olympiakos striker Cedric Bakambu has revealed former Barcelona director Eric Abidal apologised to him for a failed move in 2020.

Bakambu was all set to sign for Barca in January 2020, only for the switch to suddenly collapse.

He recalled to Relevo: "In January 2020, my loan to Barcelona was almost done. In fact, I was already on my way to Spain when they told me that the contract was cancelled.

"Eric Abidal called me afterwards to apologise for how the club had acted in that situation. I thought it was smart of him."

Barça's interest in Bakambu, now 32, arose as a result of an injury to Luis Suárez.

He continued, "When Barça contacted me, I was not the first option, that must be said. Time passed and at the end of the transfer window the option became more and more concrete. We are talking about a loan with a purchase option.

"Indeed, I took a flight to Spain, but I arrived at my layover and my representative told me that the loan would not be done in the end, so I turned around and went back to join my team (Beijing Guoan)."