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Controversial transfers are something that has been associated several times in recent years with Barcelona and their recent acquisition of Malcom from Bordeaux under the nose of AS Roma adds one more to this list.
The Catalan club even received a transfer ban for two windows in 2015 although it was not related to transfers of senior players. In this case, they were found guilty of breaching FIFA’s rules concerning the transfer of players aged under 18.
When it comes to transfers of first-team players, they’ve faced the wrath of several clubs from across Europe for varied reasons. In some instances, their players, members of the management and former players openly vouching for a star from another club to join them has drawn the ire of other fan bases.
On that note, take a look at five signings made by Barcelona in the last five years that has been the subject of intense debate.
#5. Malcom
We begin with the most recent one - the transfer of Malcom from Bordeaux for a reported transfer fee of €41 million plus an additional €1 million in bonuses.
The Brazilian was on the shortlist of several top European clubs after a breakthrough season during which he scored 12 goals and assisted 7 more in 35 league games.
Inter Milan were heavily linked with the player followed by Everton, but before a move to either club could materialise, Roma agreed on a fee with Bordeaux for Malcom on July 23.
The player was due to fly to Rome the same night for his medical and the Roma fans were waiting in numbers at the airport to greet their new player. However, in the Eleventh hour, there was a twist in the tale.
Barcelona entered the fray and offered Bordeaux more than the fee that was agreed with Roma. As a result, Bordeaux stopped the player from flying out to Rome and he instead, traveled to Barcelona and completed his move.
This didn't go down well with Roma and the club’s sporting director, Monchi, stated that they would consider taking legal action against Bordeaux.
Barcelona, on the other hand, apologised to Roma but they rejected it and stated that Barcelona were ‘unethical and immoral’.
“Barcelona apologised about their actions and how they did things, I don't accept the apology at all. The only way I'll accept Barca's apology is if they send the player to us, and that's not going to happen. Maybe, as a goodwill gesture, the very least they could do is send us Messi.”
#4. Philippe Coutinho
The Philippe Coutinho transfer saga was long and messy, to say the least. Barcelona targeted the Brazilian after losing Neymar to PSG but Liverpool were not easy to do business with.
Jurgen Klopp didn’t want to lose one of his best players having got Liverpool back in the Champions League. Although the player was keen on moving and even submitted a transfer request, Liverpool released an official statement stating that Coutinho was not for sale.
Coutinho finished the entire preseason with Liverpool but was absent at the start of the season. Klopp said the player had back problems but it was evident that the Brazilian went on strike to force a move.
Liverpool didn’t budge despite multiple offers from Barcelona and at the end of the 2017 summer transfer window, Coutinho was still a Liverpool player. A few days after the window closed, he played for Brazil despite being absent from the Liverpool squad for a several games citing a ‘back problem’.
During the entire saga, several personalities connected to Barcelona publicly spoke on the move which angered Liverpool fans.
Former Liverpool player, Luis Suarez made the following comments:
“Both Griezmann and Coutinho are elite players that are playing at the top level. They are where they are for a reason. They're both young and have long careers ahead of them. And Barca always wants the best players.”
Suarez wasn’t the only one, Paulinho also talked up the transfer while Coutinho was still playing for Liverpool.
"Everyone expects the great players to come to Barcelona, we have a very strong group of great players, without Coutinho people are doing a great job. On Coutinho, it is not necessary to say much, he is a great player who has been making a difference in his team, in the Brazilian team. He is young but with experience in Europe.
I want him to come, I think it would be a great contract for Barca. It would be a great happiness for me because we would have another great player and another Brazilian."
After the summer transfer window closed, Coutinho returned to Liverpool and played his best football in Liverpool red. He played 20 games, scoring 12 goals and assisted 8 more.
He eventually signed for Barcelona in the winter transfer window for £105 million, rising to £142 million. This makes him the third most expensive player in the world at the moment.
#3. Arda Turan
Considering how badly Arda Turan flopped at Barcelona, the trouble they went through to sign him is surely not worth the effort.
Barcelona signed Turan in the summer of 2015, but since they were serving a transfer ban, the club couldn’t register the player for another six months. Hence, Turan didn’t play professionally during this period.
Now, coming to the transfer. Barcelona signed the player during the build-up to the voting for their presidential elections and the club rule prevent them from signing players during this period.
The club’s interim management completed the deal after Josep Maria Bartomeu stepped down to run for re-elections. However, he pushed for the transfer arguing that then manager, Luis Enrique, requested for the player amidst interest from Chelsea and PSG.
So what did Barcelona do? They inserted a clause in the Turkish midfielder’s contract allowing the Catalan club to sell the player back to Atletico Madrid before 20 July 2015, two days after the announcements of the presidential election results.
Barcelona could sell the player back to Atletico Madrid for “the fixed fee minus 10 percent option costs."
The transfer didn’t go down with other candidates like Joan Laporta and Agusti Benedito. The former said:
"It's something improper. If he thought they had to sign Arda, he should have done it before resigning. It's out of order, this sense of urgency ... and the only explanation is that it favours the candidature of Bartomeu."
The latter even hinted that he would exercise the option to send the player back to Atletico Madrid.
"We don't agree with Arda's signing but rather another player with a different profile"
Thankfully for Turan, Bartomeu won the election and he remained at Barcelona.
#2. Ousmane Dembele
The Neymar transfer left Barcelona in a limbo and they were desperate to replace the superstar with high profile players. One of their main targets was Ousmane Dembele of Borussia Dortmund but the player only joined the German club a year ago and hence a potential transfer was sure to be difficult.
Barcelona’s intentions of signing Dembele was out in the open but Dortmund denied the player permission to speak to Catalan club. However, the player skipped training and traveled to Spain in the hope of sealing a move.
This didn’t go down well with Dortmund and they suspended the player indefinitely despite rejecting a €100 million offer.
Initially, Dortmund’s sporting director, Michael Zorc said Dembele won't be sold. Later they loosened their stance as they were not keen on keeping a player whose heart was no longer in the right place but they wanted to extract a huge fee for the player and they did just that by selling him to Barcelona for €105 million plus a reported €40 million add-ons.
Once the transfer was done, Dembele opened up on the incident.
"I decided to stop going training. I didn't want to go. I looked for an excuse not to go. If it didn't work out and I hadn't done my part to get the move to Barça, now I would be lamenting the fact I wasn't here. I was really nervous, although I could rest at night. I just wanted it to go through as quickly as possible.”
#1. Neymar
Neymar’s transfer to Barcelona and then to PSG were both under the scanner for the manner in which it happened. But let’s just stick to the Barcelona one for now.
Barcelona signed Neymar in 2013 without a lot of fuss but a few months later, stories regarding his transfer started to unravel. In January 2014, a prosecutor’s office in Madrid investigated the transfer fee Barcelona paid for Neymar and the documents submitted to the authorities contained contradictory information.
A few days later on January 23, president of Barcelona, Sandro Rosell, resigned from his position of power. A day later, it was revealed that Neymar’s transfer cost Barcelona close to €100 million and not €57.1 million as reported earlier.
It was confirmed that Neymar’s parents received €40 million from Barcelona as part of the transfer. As a result of the controversy, Barcelona and Bartomeu were charged with tax fraud.
Later, Neymar’s former club Santos filed a suit with FIFA seeking compensation for a breach of contract in the transfer of Neymar.
