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Suffice it to say that Barcelona are in deep trouble as their season kicked off this weekend. With 10 days to go before the transfer window shuts, they still do not have a squad that can be considered as title contenders.
The loss of Neymar for a world record €222m came as a cruel shock to the board and they are yet to tie down Lionel Messi to a new contract. The Argentine's current deal expires next summer, effectively making him a free agent in January when he can sign a pre-contract with any other club.
As the Catalan club scurried to replace players and replenish the squad, they have gone about it the wrong way and burned bridges with other clubs in Europe in the process, angering them enough for clubs to reject their bids outright.
Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu faces backlash from the fans and he is effectively trying to buy more sand for his hourglass with no club willing to sell him any.
Here are five clubs he has angered with their transfer business - or the lack of it.
1) Paris Saint-Germain
The Ligue 1 giants have been bankrolled by Qatar and have made a number of big-money signings over the past few years to force other clubs in France to reconsider their own existence in the face of such a financial beast.
However, nobody expected them to break the world record transfer fee. Scratch that, it was shattered and the money used to buy the player that was supposed to be Barcelona's future.
But why did they go for such a move in the first place? A series of unfortunate events that eventually culminated in the Brazilian forcing the switch.
One such event was the Camp Nou club's pursuit of Marco Verratti. The Italian midfielder, who was also badly advised by his agent, looked like he wanted out of Paris and Barcelona wanted him to force through a £100m move.
PSG quickly came out and said Barcelona should stop wasting their time with Verratti even publicly stating he was happy to stay. Why wouldn't he knowing the club's plan to lure Neymar?
Less than a month later, Neymar was his new teammate and Barcelona looked like the other side of the tracks nobody dared wander to.
2) Arsenal
When it comes to Arsenal, the cordial relationship went down the drain long ago. There was a time when the Gunners allowed Barcelona to use their training ground ahead of their Champions League final at Wembley. They may not be so inviting anymore.
Cesc Fabregas, Thierry Henry, Alexander Hleb, Alex Song, Thomas Vermaelen... It's an illustrious list of players Barcelona have signed from the north London club. And they don't seem to have stopped, trying their best to make Arsenal a feeder club.
Their latest transfer target was Hector Bellerin, the Gunners' promising young right-back who had made the Premier League PFA Team of the Year in 2015/16 at the age of 20.
Of course, he was a La Masia product but Wenger had ensured he would not go home empty-handed when they won over Fabregas.
Repeated attempts to lure Bellerin back to Spain have failed with Wenger informing the full-back that he was staying put no matter what.
In the end, the Gunners sent them a ‘strongly worded’ letter to warn them against chasing Bellerin's signature. Barcelona soon backed off under the threat of legal action.
3) Liverpool
Barcelona's pursuit of Coutinho actually started before they allowed Neymar to leave for PSG. With the idea of pairing two international teammates together, Barcelona thought they could appease Neymar while simultaneously improving their midfield.
But they were still serious about it even after Neymar left, with his transfer now becoming a necessity. They offered much more than they did for Luis Suarez three years ago but this is 2017 where money is no longer a factor for Premier League clubs.
Jurgen Klopp first came out and said: "We are not a selling club," and he was also backed by the board.
"The club’s definitive stance is that no offers for Philippe will be considered and he will remain a member of Liverpool Football Club when the summer window closes." - FSG statement
Well, that should have sent a message to Barcelona to back off, right?
Wrong! It only emboldened Barcelona to launch a larger bid. Their position was strengthened by the transfer request handed in by Coutinho.
Of course, transfer requests have no legal basis and the club flatly rejected it, stating that he was not for sale at any price.
Also read: How do transfer requests work in football?
Barcelona soon came back with a 'take it or leave it' £118m offer for the Brazilian, reportedly giving Liverpool a deadline. Nothing else was the subject of ridicule more than Barcelona's stance that weekend and they were soon resigned to not signing him as Liverpool stood their ground.
4) Borussia Dortmund
With Neymar gone to PSG, Barcelona set about attempting to sign his replacement. And they had identified Borussia Dortmund starlet Ousmane Dembele as the perfect man to fill in the Brazilian's shoes (if at all that were possible).
The young Frenchman could play on either flank and had 8 goals and 18 assists in the Bundesliga and Champions League in 2016/17.
The interest became concrete when Barcelona general manager Pep Segura claimed that the club were close to signing both Philippe Coutinho and Dembele. Segura made this sensational claim soon after Real Madrid convincingly beat Barcelona to lift the Spanish Super Cup.
It led to Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke giving his counterpart a piece of his mind.
"I don't know why he said that. Barcelona is not one step closer to signing Dembele. I cannot explain what he is telling me. Maybe it's because Real played his team dizzy in the Super Cup.
"Nothing has advanced, not even by a millimetre." - Watzke
However, there was more to this than met the eye. All of a sudden, Dembele did not report to training in an apparent attempt to force through a move.
Barcelona's offer of €100m was rejected earlier this month with the club now holding out for at least €140m. Sky have also revealed that the club rejected another €130m offer for the forward who turned 20 just three months ago.
But the manner in which they have unsettled a crucial player so close to the end of the transfer window and after the season has got underway will certainly irk the Bundesliga club.
5) Nice
With their midfield in disarray, Barcelona have been looking for the perfect player to replace Xavi. While that is virtually impossible with the current crop of players, they have identified the Nice's Jean Michael Seri (aka the 'African Xavi') as a potential successor.
"He would do very well at Barca! He can play anywhere in the middle. Seri is fantastic. I can say, without hesitation, that he has what we call 'Barca DNA'." - Xavi
There we go again with that Barca DNA that has lured so many players with the promise of achieving their goals at the Camp Nou.
Plenty of reports stated that Barcelona were willing to pay €40m for the Ivorian central midfielder but Nice general manager Julien Fournier said last night that such was not the case.
"We haven't negotiated with Barca, nor do I know of any negotiations lined up in the next few days. They're just rumours, so we haven't set a price for Seri. I think the player will stay with us this season.
"It's true that he is open to listening to offers but he's also happy at Nice, whether we qualify for the group stages of the Champions League or not." - Fournier
Nice reportedly want not only cash but also a player in a cash-plus-swap deal. And journalists claim the club is annoyed with Barcelona who only wanted to pay for the player.
The Ligue 1 club clearly want to ensure they have their squad ready and not be left hanging following any potential sale of Seri. But Barcelona's dealings will probably see them retain Seri for another season unless the Catalan club can renegotiate or meet their terms.
