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Barcelona are arguably one of the greatest clubs in world football and they are undisputedly a place where the top talents would dream about signing for. Sometimes, like any other club, Barcelona have been guilty of selling players when they shouldn't have and ended up losing on a big talent who blossoms elsewhere.
Players like Samuel Eto'o, Pepe Reina, Thiago Alcantara and many others were sold while they had much more to offer and they had to end up spending a lot of money in order to replace these quality players.
With that said, let us take a look at the players who Barcelona would have regretted selling over the period of their illustrious history.
Also see : Womens World Cup Bracket, Copa America Standings, Gold Cup Standings
5. Alexis Sanchez
Alexis Sanchez moved to Barcelona from Udinese in the summer of 2011 and he played a very important role for the Barcelona legacy under Pep Guardiola. He made a total of 141 appearances for the Blaugrana, scoring 47 and assisting in 35 goals in the process. His final season at the Catalan outfit was his most productive where he scored 19 and assisted in 12 in the league alone to help Barcelona win the league yet again.
He left the club aged 26 to Arsenal over lack of playing time at Barcelona and he went on to become one of the most important players in the Arsenal squad, when he dragged the squad in the 2016/17 campaign, scoring 30 goals and assisting in 18 in 50 appearances for the club.
Although his time at Manchester United has been a disappointment, Barcelona surely must regret the sale of the Chilean international who would've been able to step up with Suarez aging and losing his form and shape.
4. Thiago Alcantara
Thiago Alcantara was an exciting prospect for Barcelona when he started out for the club and many great things were expected from the young Spaniard. But when Pep left Barcelona for Bayern Munich, he took Thiago along with him, for a meagre fee of £22.5 million which is considered by many as one of the worst sales in the club's history.
Ever since he left, the club was linked with the Spaniard on a regular basis and was looked upon as the player to succeed Xavi when he left. But it may be too late as Barcelona are set in their ways but had to end up spending a lot of money to obtain the likes of Arthur and Frenkie de Jong who will be joining in the summer.
Had Barca not sold him, they wouldn't have had to spend so much and could've been set for another one of their academy graduates to take the throne in their midfield.
3. Yaya Toure
Yaya Toure joined Barcelona from Monaco. He was a dynamic midfielder who had the tendency to venture forward. His strength and freekick abilities were some of the many other capabilities of the Ivorian international.
Pep Guardiola benched the midfielder for an academy graduate in the name of a certain Sergio Busquets who made the position his own and started a legacy as one of the best defensive midfielders of his generation.
Yaya Toure left for Manchester City and went on to win the Premier League and carried the team to greatness under Manuel Pellegrini. But when Pep came to the Etihad, he was again frozen out of the squad and was instead let to leave for free.
Barcelona could have made perfectly good use with a player like Yaya Toure who offers something different to what the other players offered. He left the club due to a fallout with the manager and it's unfortunate that he had to leave on such a low.
2. Ronaldo Nazario
Barcelona signed a young Brazilian talent from PSV. Although he stayed there for only one season, he scored 47 goals in 49 appearances for the Catalan outfit. He had moved to the Blaugrana for a then record fee.
But despite all this, Ronaldo left the club the very next season over failed contract negotiations to Inter and later ended up with Real Madrid and scored many goals for the club. Although he struggled a lot with injuries, he did show that he was one of the best strikers when fit and he was feared by the opposition defenders without a doubt.
He won the World Cup and the Ballon d'Or after leaving Barcelona for his immense performances with his later clubs. Had Barcelona given the-then young prodigy a contract which he hadn't, we could have seen the heights he could've hit with Barcelona.
1. Samuel Eto'o
Samuel Eto'o was one of the most feared strikers of his generation and he was an integral part of the Barcelona squad after moving from Mallorca. Having started off at Real Madrid as a teenager and leaving due to lack of chances, he became a Barcelona legend after showing his capabilities.
But Pep Guardiola shipped off the Cameroonian along with €46 million for the services of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Inter Milan. But this deal turned out to be disastrous for the Swede as he left an Inter Milan squad which went on to win the treble the very next season with Eto'o and Milito leading the charge for Jose Mourinho's legendary team.
Zlatan ended up being loaned out to AC Milan and never found the same success he had at Inter Milan, until he landed at PSG. We can safely say that Barcelona regretted the sale of Samuel Eto'o
