Playing for Barcelona is one of the highest regarded achievements in football. They have produced talents such as Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique and have been able to purchase some of the best players in world football over the years as well.
However, some people have been extremely lucky to have represented the Spanish giants, playing bit part roles for the team. Despite some of them having reasonably successful careers elsewhere, many wouldn’t argue these five players were very lucky to have represented FC Barcelona.
#5 Aleksandr Hleb
To put into perspective how lucky Hleb was to have represented Barcelona, the clubs he played for afterwards included Krylia Sovetov Samara, BATE Borisov, Konyaspor and Gençlerbirlii, clubs unrecognisable to many.
After three years and 89 appearances at Arsenal, Hleb made a move to Barcelona where he hoped he would make a name for himself. He moved to the Spanish club for €17 million and after showing his talent at the Gunners, many thought he would fit in at Barcelona. However, it wasn’t to be and he appeared just 19 times in the league.
After just one year at the club, he went on to spend the next 3 years on loan, proving how unwanted he became at Barca. It was an unfortunate end to his career in Europe, but his decision to sacrifice game time at Arsenal and make a move to Spain was always a risky decision.
Many knew he was not good enough to play for Barcelona, and his time there showed that.
#4 Pinto
Up until 2014, the Spanish goalkeeper spent six years at Barcelona, making just 31 league appearances. Pinto was bought purposely to fill in for any injuries to Victor Valdes and appear in the Copa Del Rey, which he did, year in, year out.
However, this did not mean he was ever good enough to play for the club. Luckily for him at the time, he was the keeper they chose to be a back-up for Victor Valdes from 2008 onwards.
Despite appearing and contributing to Copa Del Rey wins for Barcelona, he also made numerous mistakes in his 31 league appearances, leaving many people shocked that he was given any sort of opportunity to play for the Spanish giants.
Pinto was a good goalkeeper who could have featured for most sides in La Liga, however, with the stakes as high as they are in Barcelona, he couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. He just wasn’t good enough to keep his goalkeeping at a consistently high level that it needed to be at FC Barcelona and was therefore lucky to have represented them.
#3 Thomas Vermaelen
Even though the Arsenal captain was not able to make many appearances at the Emirates, he earned himself a move to Barcelona in the summer of 2014 for £15 million.
Having come through the Ajax youth academy and being renowned as a very good ball playing centre back, many would have felt he had the ability to play for Barca. But, the trend of spending most of his time on the bench would only continue at Barcelona.
Although he has also struggled with injuries during his time with the Catalan giants (which is still his parent club currently), he was still never a first choice centre-back at the club. it’s unlikely he will ever play again for the Spanish side.
Vermaelen can consider himself very lucky to have ever represented Barcelona, especially considering they bought him at a time when he couldn’t even feature ahead of Per Mertesacker, who Arsenal fans often criticised for being extremely slow.
#2 Maxi Lopez
Similarly to Hleb, the clubs Maxi Lopez went on to represent after Barcelona were nowhere near the level of the Spanish side. Those clubs included FC Moscow, Gremio, Catania and Chievo.
Those clubs he has gone on to represent, where he has also had very poor goal scoring records, show how lucky he was to sign and play for Barcelona in 2005.
On his debut in the Champions League, he scored within four minutes of coming off the bench, which would have given Barca fans hope about their recent signing. However, with just 13 goals in 56 league games at River Plate, his goal record was hardly spectacular before his move to Barcelona, and he wouldn’t improve that record.
He made just 14 appearances for the club and was mainly bought due to an injury to Henrik Larsson, suggesting he was lucky to get his move and to have ever represented Barcelona.
#1 Alex Song
The third Arsenal player to appear on the list is Alex Song. He spent four years in Spain, but everybody was shocked that Barcelona bought the Cameroonian international, with a lot of people unsure if he was good enough to play for them.
In those four years, he made just 39 league appearances and was considered one of Barcelona’s worst purchases ever, with the former Arsenal player failing to have any real impact and failing to break into the side ahead of Sergio Busquets.
At Arsenal, many fans became frustrated with Song, feeling he often forgot he also had a defensive job, leading to Arsenal leaking many goals. Therefore, when Barcelona became interested and signed the Cameroonian, Arsenal fans were very surprised.
Despite being just 29, Song now represents Rubin Kazan in Russia, who are currently 10th in the Russian Premier League, which demonstrates how lucky he was to have ever represented FC Barcelona.
Also Read: 10 of the worst transfer flops in FC Barcelona's history
