5 biggest mistakes made by Barcelona this season

#3 Barcelona's awful transfer activity

Antoine Griezmann making way for Martin Braithwaite

Barcelona have hardly put a foot right in the transfer window over the past few seasons. None of their big-money acquisitions have even come close to justifying their price tags. Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann and Coutinho are all being counted as transfer failures and together, they cost more than €400 million.

Frenkie De Jong is perhaps their only big money signing that seems to have worked out. Griezmann, Martin Braithwaite, Junior Firpo have all been misfires and Barcelona continue to fail in building a decent team around arguably the greatest player on the planet right now.

They are running out of company on the profligacy front in Europe with almost every other top side in the continent bolstering their scouting and recruitment departments. Even Manchester United, infamous for their wastefulness, have got their act together. Barcelona, however, have not moved on.

Barcelona signed Antoine Griezmann on this day last year.They've spent a lot of cash since Neymar left 👀 pic.twitter.com/j5hefejvxH

— B/R Football (@brfootball) July 12, 2020

#2 Arthur-Pjanic swap deal

Arthur Melo

This is an extension of the last point but it would be cruel to tag Pjanic an awful signing. However, if you look at the backdrop of the signing, the deal simply makes no sense. Arthur Melo is a 24-year-old central midfielder in the mould of Xavi and Iniesta.

Pjanic is 30-years-old and it makes no sense for Barcelona to have sold a young and promising midfield maestro for an ageing veteran. Pjanic is an excellent player, no doubt. However, the bigger problems at Barcelona suggest that there must be something else at play.

Arthur feels like he has been mistreated by the club and that the transfer deal was sanctioned to balance their books. If that's the case, then it is just awful management.

De Jong: "Arthur Melo's situation is sad, it is difficult for everyone" https://t.co/K6o1UPuzTl

— SPORT English (@Sport_EN) August 7, 2020

#1 Over reliance on ageing players

Busquets and Rakitic are both in the twilight of their careers

That brings us to the next point. Barcelona have an ageing squad and given the way their recruitment has been going over the past few years, this could be a hurdle too big for the Cules to cross.

Luis Suarez, Gerard Pique and Arturo Vidal are all 33-years-old now. Rakitic and Busquets are both 32. Alba is 31 and Griezmann is 29. Almost all of Barcelona's main players are over the age of 26. The influence of their veterans is waning with age and even Messi is 33 now though he doesn't really show it.

They cannot go on forever and Barcelona have to undertake a big clearing-out project to address the issue. They will find it hard to replace the likes of Busquets, Alba, Vidal etc. in the current landscape in the wake of the Covid pandemic.