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FC Barcelona as a club are used to great players representing them - as a matter of fact, some of the greatest players throughout history have donned the famous colors of the Blaugrana.
While the club has made a name for itself by bringing through players from its youth La Masia ranks, Barcelona have also pulled off some wonderful transfers in the past, from Johan Cruyff and Romario in the distant past to Luis Suarez, Neymar, Ronaldinho, Dani Alvez, and Samuel Eto'o among others more recently.
However, it has not always been smooth sailing for the Catalans, as they are not also without their own transfer duds who arrived amidst much fanfare and for a high amount, but failed to deliver.
In the club's 120 year history, Barcelona have pulled off a number of shocking transfers, but that of Kevin Prince Boateng would rank high up there among the most shocking.
Lots of eyebrows were raised when his arrival was announced and the surprise was justified, as the move was unexpected, to say the least. In this piece, we shall be taking a look at three reasons why Barcelona signing Kevin Prince Boateng made no sense.
#3 Patchy record in front of goal
Luis Suarez is undoubtedly one of the premier strikers in the world and Barcelona have been huge beneficiaries of his superb goalscoring prowess over the years.
However, the Uruguayan is on the wrong side of 30 and starting to show signs of decline, as no player no matter how great can last at the top forever and Suarez is no exception.
Barca have long identified getting a backup striker to Luis Suarez to be a matter of priority, especially since Munir El Haddadi departed for Sevilla at the start of the season.
The club identified Genoa hotshot Krysyztof Piatek, but backed out of the deal, having identified Boateng as a cheaper alternative, signing the former Ghana international on a season long loan, with Piatek going to AC Milan (where he has been a massive hit so far) instead.
Boateng was signed primarily as a backup to Luis Suarez and this is baffling, to say the least, as the 31-year-old has never been an out-and-out striker at any point in his career and indeed was even a holding midfielder in the early stages of his career.
Boateng was only converted to a false nine in recent seasons and even at that time, his stats in front of goal have not been impressive.
Till date, Boateng has hit double figures in terms of league goals on just one occasion (when he scored 10 from 28 matches in his sole season with Las Palmas in 2017) throughout his career.
So it beggars belief, that Barcelona signed a player of very questionable prowess in front of goal to serve as their backup striker.
#2 His poor disciplinary record
Throughout Barcelona's 120-year history, the club has prided itself as not just being a football club, but being 'more than a club' which is reflected by the club's Mes que un Club motto.
Barca's players are global superstars known all over the world, but in rather incongruous circumstances, they usually stay off making tabloid headlines, keeping a low radar (despite their global profiles), preferring to do their talking off the field instead, which goes against everything the modern professional footballer stands for.
There have been only a handful of misdemeanors involving Barcelona players, which is rather odd in today's digital world of social media and paparazzi following of sportsmen.
Even hitherto tabloid headline grabbers like Neymar and Luis Suarez all calmed down upon arriving the club, as dressing room leaders like Xavi, Puyol, Iniesta and more recently Lionel Messi have always been on hand as examples of what it means to be a Barcelona player.
They were all there to caution Ousmane Dembele over his excesses and the improvement in the Frenchman's game has been clear for all to see.
By contrast, Boateng is the antithesis to everything the Barcelona player stands for, being an epitome of chaos, ill-discipline, and controversies whereas calmness prevails at Barcelona.
Throughout his career, Boateng has never been too far from negative headlines, from squabbling with teammates and the Ghanaian national football association to numerous fines, suspensions, and termination of his contract with at last three of his former clubs, which makes it more baffling why Barcelona went ahead to sign him.
#1 Quite simply, he is not at Barcelona's level
It is already an established fact that Barcelona is one of the biggest clubs in the world, having won all trophies winnable in football, so it goes without saying that only players of a certain level are expected to don the colors of Barcelona.
World Class experienced players in all departments who know what it means to win trophies, while under pressure to play intricate football is the barest minimum expected of a Barca player. Although there are exceptions such as the signing of young talented players who are expected to gain experience with the passing of time or promoting La Masia players who are steeped in the culture of the club.
However, Kevin Prince Boateng is none of those. At 31, he is already a 'veteran' in his own right and it is hard to see him gaining any more experience than he already has, while he is as far from being steeped in Barcelona's colors as a River Plate fan is to cheering Boca Juniors.
Till date, Boateng has won just three major honors in his career (one league and two Cup trophies), while his last Champions League participation came over seven years ago, which shows that he is way off the levels required of a Barcelona player.
