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The last summer transfer window was the possibly the craziest one. PSG were involved in two world record transfers, but in all the melee surrounding the French side, Barcelona were cast in the shadow.
Let's not forget that the Catalans were involved in two record transfers as well, selling Brazilian superstar Neymar for €222 million, and signing French wonderkid Ousmane Dembele from Dortmund for €105 million as a replacement.
When you look at the best players to have played for the Blaugrana, most of them have graduated from the famed La Masia academy - Xavi, Iniesta, Valdes, Puyol, Messi and so on. They are traditionally a team that have not relied on spending money to get world-class players.
But they have pulled off a few remarkably bargain deals in the past, and this summer showed that they won't shy away from splashing the cash either.
Here, we take a look at the 5 best transfer windows in Barca's recent history.
#5 Summer, 2010
There were quite a few notable departures that summer, with Thierry Henry, Rafael Marquez, Yaya Toure and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all leaving. Barca had to bring in some big names, and they did exactly that.
Having lost two mercurial forwards, they signed David Villa from Valencia for €40 million, following an immensely successful personal season where he scored 21 league goals. Villa was already 28 when he signed, but was part of an incredible side under Pep Guardiola that personified Johan Cruyff's revolutionary tiki-taka football, and ended up winning the La Liga and Champions League.
Javier Mascherano joined from Liverpool for €19 million. The 26-year-old was turning heads in the Premier League with his tough tackling and no-nonsense defending. His versatility allows him to play in both defensive midfield and centre-back.
Ibrahim Afellay, Adriano and Jeffren were the other arrivals, but only the Brazilian left-back had anywhere near the same amount of impact as Mascherano and Villa.
Villa had a short career in Catalonia, but he did have an impact in the three seasons that he spent there. He helped them win eight trophies, including two league titles and one Champions League.
Mascherano, on the other hand, is still at the club, and very much a central figure of their backline. Sergio Busquets' excellent form has stopped him from playing in midfield, but he is undoubtedly their first choice centre-back along with Pique.
#4 Summer, 2007
The surprise of the summer was Barcelona's signing of Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry for a reported fee of €24 million, in spite of the French forward pledging his loyalty to the Gunners.
Other notable big-money signings were Yaya Toure, Gabriel Milito and Eric Abidal. Milito was a flop, and Toure had a decent career in Spain, but Abidal and Henry established themselves as legends at the club.
In a season where a young Leo Messi was turning heads and capturing the attention of fans and the media, Henry and Ronaldinho turned out to be the perfect mentors for the incredibly talented youngster.
The 1998 French World Cup winner ended the season as joint top-scorer for the club on 19 goals in what was a disappointing season for the club. Barca surprisingly finished 22 points behind champions Real, and were eliminated in the Champions League by Manchester United.
However, it proved to be a season of transition for the Catalans as manager Frank Rijkaard was succeeded by Pep Guardiola who oversaw one of the most successful periods in the club's history.
And the players that Rijkaard brought in that season played a role - Thierry Henry might have been on the decline, but did form a lethal attacking trio with Messi and Samuel Eto'o, who scored 72 goals between them in a very successful 2008/09 season.
Toure made 74 appearances in 3 seasons, and the emergence of Sergio Busquets was partially responsible for him spending time on the sidelines. Barca did, however, make a reasonable profit from his eventual €30 million sale to Manchester City.
Eric Abidal, though, was probably their best signing. The Frenchman became one of their most legendary full-backs of all time in the five seasons he spent there. Unfortunately, his tenure was marred by health issues, when he was diagnosed with a tumour in his liver in 2011.
He recovered subsequently and returned in 2013, and his passion and perseverance saw him go down in history as one of the most iconic defenders to have graced Camp Nou.
#3 Summer, 2014
Barca had begun to experience a decline of sorts since the departure of Pep Guardiola to Bayern, but Luis Enrique took over as manager in 2014, and the former Catalan legend led his club to an incredibly successful treble-winning campaign.
Most fans, however, remember it as the season in which one of the deadliest attacking trios in football history was first formed. Luis Suarez joined from Liverpool in July, with Enrique taking a big leap of faith in the Uruguayan hitman, given that his ban following the infamous biting incident in the World Cup prevented him from playing for four months.
Suarez's first match was a 3-1 loss in the El Clasico, but he kicked off his career at Catalunya after scoring against APOEL in the Champions League. Incredibly, he ended the season with 25 goals and 20 assists, and MSN ended up scoring 122 goals, making them the most lethal trio in Spanish football history.
The signings of that summer played a huge role in their extraordinary success. Goalkeepers ter Stegen and Bravo arrived to replace the departing legend, Victor Valdes. Carlos Puyol retired, and Cesc Fabregas moved to Chelsea, meaning that the Blaugrana had some big holes to fill in their squad.
Ivan Rakitic arrived from Sevilla having won the Europa League the previous season and formed a formidable midfield trio alongside Iniesta and Busquets. Thomas Vermaelen and Jeremy Mathieu were brought in to fill the void left by Puyol, but neither of them was quite up to the mark. Thankfully, Mascherano and Pique stepped up to fill in the centre-back slots.
Bravo, ter Stegen, Vermaelen and Mathieu might not be their most eye-catching signings of late, but Barca's summer dealings of 2014 deserve a place on this list simply because of the enormous impact that Suarez has had in recent years. He's already scored 87 league goals in 101 appearances, which is an almost unreal goals-per-game ratio. He might already be 30 years old, but is definitely one of their best goalscorers of the past decade.
#2 Summer, 2008
Barcelona signed seven players in the summer transfer window of 2008, but only two of them really stand out: Gerard Pique and Dani Alves. Interestingly, it was also the same year that a 20-year-old Sergio Busquets got promoted to the first team.
Seydou Keita arrived from Sevilla, and had a fairly decent career at Barca, but Pinto, Caceres, Hleb, Henrique were all flops. There were some high profile departures too, including Zambrotta, Deco, and one Ronaldinho, but the incredible success that Alves and Pique have had outweighs Barca's minor failures in the market.
Pique started his youth career in La Masia before joining Manchester United in 2004. He struggled to make the first team in England, even spending a loan spell at Zaragoza, and ended up returning to Spain after having made just 12 appearances for the Red Devils.
At Barcelona, he gradually proved what a huge mistake Sir Alex had made in letting him go, amassing over 250 league appearances, and establishing himself as an undisputed first choice for both club and country. His transfer fee of €5 million seems criminally low on retrospection.
Pique's aerial dominance, strength, and strong tackling make him a force to reckon with at the back. His passing abilities also made him the perfect ball-playing centre-back that is so crucial to Pep Guardiola's style of play.
Dani Alves had led Sevilla to the Copa del Rey, UEFA Cup, and UEFA Super Cup the previous season, and Barca splashed out £23 million to sign him. It has turned out to be one of their best signings ever, and at 34 years old, he is still tearing it up in France, and proving to Barca that they made a premature mistake in letting him leave.
Two of Barcelona's most successful defenders of the 21st century were signed in the space of one transfer window, and it's no surprise that it appears on this list.
#1 Summer, 2003
The summer of 2003 saw 7 new signings at Camp Nou, but the one name that stood out was 23-year old Ronaldinho.
The Brazilian arrived in Spain with a reputation to match his outrageous talent. He had an instant impact, finishing his debut season as top goalscorer.
He couldn't lead the Blaugrana to any silverware in his first season but won consecutive league titles in 2005 and 2006, and the Champions League in 2006. His individual honours include the Ballon d'Or in 2005, and FIFA World Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005.
In spite of having won only 9 titles at club level, the fact that he is hailed as one of the best Brazilians to ever grace a football pitch is a testament to his abilities. One of the most creative playmakers the sport has ever seen, he went on to embody the flair and elegance that Barca came to be known for in his five seasons in Spain.
He was also Leo Messi's mentor when the young Argentine first broke into the senior team, and every Barca fan will remember his brilliant assist for the then 17-year-old's first goal.
Some other big names who accompanied Ronaldinho in 2003 were Ricardo Quaresma and Rafael Marquez. While Quaresma suffered a short and uneventful career at the Camp Nou, Marquez became the first Mexican to represent Barcelona.
Marquez might not have enjoyed the longevity of Pique or Alves, but he did have an incredibly successful career spanning 7 seasons, winning 10 trophies.
The same season also saw a 19-year-old Andres Iniesta, and 21-year old Victor Valdes become first-team regulars.
Ronaldinho might have been the only stand-out signing of this particular window, but the enormous impact the Brazilian has had in shaping the club's history and perception following the turn of the new millennium means that he will go down in history as probably one of the best pieces of transfer business the Catalan giants have ever done.
