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A lot has been made of the predicament that Barcelona have found themselves in over the last few years. The Blaugrana have been at the top of their game in LaLiga Santander, winning four out of the last six league titles available to them along with four Copas del Rey and Supercopas de Espana.
Regardless of their domestic dominance, there is a belief around this Lionel Messi-led Barcelona side that they have considerably underperformed due to their European failures. For a team with the sort of wage bills and expenditure of the Blaugrana, as well as the star-studded squad at their disposal, Barcelona have thoroughly underwhelmed in the UEFA Champions League.
The Catalans' struggles on the continental front have been summed up by their historic 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the ongoing edition of the UCL.
In order to help fix this glaring deficiency in their list of accolades, Barcelona have spent a monumental amount of money in the transfer market. Since 2014/15, they have spent just over €1 billion on recruiting new players, and have also made a host of poor decisions in the market.
Here, we take a look at five Barcelona deals in their recent history that left supporters and rivals alike scratching their heads.
#5 Aleix Vidal | Sevilla
There is a very fine line between going to the Nou Camp with the hope of becoming a Blaugrana star and losing your way amongst the galaxy of superstars at the club. For Aleix Vidal, a promising attack-minded full-back, the case was most certainly the latter, after his €17m move to the champions.
The Spaniard signed for Barcelona in the summer of 2015 and the transfer hinged on one regrettable circumstance. Despite signing for them that summer, Vidal was not eligible to play for Barcelona until the coming winter, due to a transfer ban that they were slapped with at the time. His long wait ultimately bore no fruit as the right-back endured a torrid spell at the club. Vidal saw a total of 15 LaLiga starts over three years (!) at the Nou Camp — seven less than what he had in a single season with Sevilla before his move.
After failing to impress even in the slightest at Barcelona, Vidal was allowed to rejoin his former club Sevilla with two LaLiga medals to his name. Vidal was never the same player after his six-month break which followed his Barcelona move, making just eight starts for Sevilla the following year across all competitions.
#4 Arthur Melo-Miralem Pjanic | Juventus
The infamous Arthur Melo saga of 2020 is by far one of the strangest football deals in recent times. Arthur, a 23-year-old Brazilian who was likened to Blaugrana legend Xavi due to his metronomic approach to playing in midfield, was purchased by the club with high hopes for the future. To his credit, although the player didn't set the league alight, Arthur was a consistent performer in the limited starts he was offered.
Barcelona were also reportedly interested in signing Juventus veteran Miralem Pjanic to bolster their midfield options, and unfortunately, the signing materialised at the expense of their Brazilian. When the Bianconeri requested for Arthur to be included in the deal for Pjanic, the Blaugrana reportedly pushed Arthur towards the exit door, forcing him to accept the offer against his will. Although he will be earning more at Juventus than he did at Barcelona, it is the age difference between the players that makes this strange move.
Pjanic is set to turn 31 come April, and Arthur – who just turned 24 ten days ago — is nearly six years younger to the Bosnian. Additionally, the 30-year-old has not endured the best of seasons at Bianconeri, ruling out the possibility of him being purchased after a breathtaking season in Turin.
Ultimately, it is speculated to be a deal which would help Barcelona both achieve a primary midfield target as well as to help balance the books financially as well. Regardless of whether or not this is true, it is a genuinely baffling deal even from a purely footballing perspective. On paper, Juventus have purchased Arthur for €72m, and Barcelona bought Pjanic for €60m.
Also read: 4 Times Lionel Messi reportedly asked Barcelona to sign a player
#3 Malcom | Bordeaux
AS Roma were on an impressive run in the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League where they dramatically knocked Barcelona out of the competition in the quarter-finals. In the subsequent transfer window, the Italians were on the brink of strengthening even further with the talented Brazilian winger from Bordeaux, to a point where fans gathered at the airport to greet him.
That plane, though, never arrived as Malcom ditched Roma for a move to Barcelona in the eleventh hour. Despite legal threats from Roma over the hijacked deal, the Brazilian successfully became a Barcelona player under strange circumstances. Despite the dramatic events surrounding his transfer, it was all in vain as the 23-year-old ultimately endured a dismal stay at the Nou Camp. Malcom managed just six LaLiga starts under then-manager Ernesto Valverde and a further nine appearances off the bench, scoring only one goal and assisting two.
Malcom was a victim of the immense competition for places at a club such as Barcelona. This, coupled with the fact that his manager had little to no faith in the winger to throw him into the deep end, resulted in a miserable transfer for everyone involved. Malcom eventually moved to Zenit St. Petersburg a year later for €41m — just €1m less than what Barcelona paid for him.
#2 Paulinho | Guangzhou Evergrande
There were a few eyebrows raised when Barcelona announced the purchase of Guangzhou Evergrande midfielder Paulinho for a whopping €40m. The Brazilian, an undoubtedly effective if not an aesthetically pleasing player, was a rather strange signing at the time. There appeared to be a stylistic mismatch between the club and player, but it was a move that ultimately plaid dividends.
Paulinho brought a sense of energy and athleticism to the Blaugrana midfield, which were traits that their midfield lacked at the time. He gave Barcelona a more direct way to attack and found goals from midfield as well, as the Brazilian scored nine in his 49 games for the club. Paulinho earned manager Valverde's trust and started 21 games (and 13 off the bench) in LaLiga — which is more than what Arthur has had in his stay at the club. The former Tottenham Hotspur man became a cult hero at the club, and occasionally bailed them out of trouble with a last-ditch tackle or a clutch goal.
Despite the enormous success that Paulinho saw in their domestic double-winning season, he was subsequently loaned back to Guangzhou Evergrande the following year. It was a one-year loan deal with an option to purchase, which the Chinese did for €42m — Barcelona's third-highest sale in their history. Paulinho departed as strangely as he arrived, but he was a signing that had an unexpected impact.
His departure that was never explained upon in detail and that is what makes this a strange deal.
#1 Kevin-Prince Boateng | Sassuolo
While Paulinho appeared to be a strange signing on the face of it, he was a player that had a notable impact on the club. Kevin-Prince Boateng, on the other hand, is a different case entirely. The Ghanian was as baffling a signing if not more than that of the Brazilian, and failed to leave any impression at Barcelona at all at Barcelona.
After playing 13 league games for Sassuolo in 2018/19, the journeyman completed a shock loan deal to Barcelona in the winter window and stayed at the Nou Camp for six months. However, his stay left no impact at the club whatsoever, and he was barely included in matchday squads let alone be involved in first-team football. The Ghanian star played three LaLiga games, totalling to 240 minutes of football for the club as a wildcard option at centre-forward. He had no goals or assists to show for at Barcelona across any competition, and perhaps his most noteworthy contribution was to Barcelona's list of bookings after picking up a yellow card in a dead rubber fixture against Celta Vigo.
Boateng ultimately left Barcelona after the expiry of his loan deal and moved to Fiorentina. Although this deal had no worrying financial ramifications for the Catalans — having paid just €1m to secure his loan — it remains the epitome of the terrible transfer business conducted by Barcelona. By all accounts, it was one of the most baffling football transfer in recent times.
Also read: 5 Best players signed by new Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman
