A look at FC Barcelona’s transfers during the Bartomeu presidency

2019–2020 squad

After the 8–2 defeat against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champion’s League, current (hopefully not anymore by the time you’re reading this) president of FC Barcelona Josep Maria Bartomeu said that the team had a sporting crisis, not an institutional one.

Looking at the scoreboard and the latest performances of the team in the Champions League that statement seems true. So let’s go with what the president says is the problem, for a moment let’s forget about the terrible handling of La Masia (Barcelona’s youth academy), the legal issues with Neymar and others, the Barcagate scandal, the Espai Barca budget, the fight with Messi, or the economic crisis the club is facing right now. Let’s talk about sporting issues, let specially focus on transfers and players coming into the club.

According to Transfermarkt, 41 players have arrived at Barcelona from another club since the transfer window of summer of 2014, there were no signings in the beginning of the year when Bartomeu’s term began. Out of those 41 players, 18 remain at the club (including players loaned out), with 12 of them arriving since the summer of 2019.

Here’s the list of those 12 players, not a lot to talk about them since they have been for a short time at the club, some have just arrived as of summer of 2020 (Total spent €397M):

• Griezmann (€120.00M), de Jong (€75.00M), Neto (€26.00M), Braithwaite (€18.00M), Firpo (€18.00M), Emerson (€12.00M), Cucurella (€4.00M), Pjanic (€60.00M), Trincao (€31.00M), Matheus Fernandes (€7.00M), Pedri (€5.00M), Dest (€21.00M)

As you can see there is nothing really relevant there, the ones that played last season didn’t do any great things but they might have just needed a season to adjust to the team. Aside from the case of Cucurella who came back to Barcelona just to be sold again a year later, at least for more than double the price paid (€10.00M).

Let’s focus then on the other 29 players. I divided these players, based on their performance during their time at the club, in 4 groups: successful, played their role, didn’t or haven’t proven themselves and who?/why did they get signed?.

Successful (Total spent €111.72M)

• Luis Suárez (arrived for €81.72 M): Barcelona’s third highest scorer ever, enough said.
• Ivan Rakitic (€18.00 M): was put in the difficult task of replacing Xavi and did a fantastic job even if his final year or two were not on his best level.
• Marc-André Ter Stegen (€12.00M): one of the best goalkeepers in the world and has saved the team countless times.

Played their role (Total spent €199.6M)

• Jeremy Mathieu (€20.00M) and Jasper Cilessen (€13.00M): not the best players in Barcelona’s history but fulfilled the role of backup when needed.
• Claudio Bravo (€12.00M): experienced goalkeeper that after Victor Valdés and Pinto left the club covered the position while Ter Stegen got used to La Liga.
• Samuel Umtiti (€25.00M): for some he would be a failed signing, but I think he was great in the beginning. Injuries have slowed him down and hasn’t been able to perform well since.
• Paulinho (€40.00M) and Arturo Vidal (€18.00M): really strange transfers since they don’t seem to fit with the team’s style, but fulfilled the role of strong midfielder capable of cutting the opposition’s attack and help Busquets, also scored some goals.
• Clement Lenglet (€35.90M): has worked well as Piqué’s partner. He can improve but has had good performances in the short time he’s been at the club.
• Nelson Semedo (€35.70M): I think he’s a good player who has shown promise in attack but weak when defending, after Dani Alves Barcelona hasn’t really had a good right back. Not the right fit for Barcelona and will probably perform better in the Premier League.

Didn’t or need to prove themselves (Total spent €314M)

• Phillipe Coutinho (€145.00M): arrived tagged as Iniesta’s future replacement, which was a mistake. He hasn’t played in a position he feels comfortable in and therefore underperformed. Hopefully his Champions League win, and a couple of goals against the team that loaned him out, helps him recover the form he showed at Liverpool.
• Ousmane Dembelé (€138.00M): arrived tagged as Neymar’s replacement, which was another mistake. Injuries and some disciplinary issues haven’t helped him succeed, but his age and quality are enough reasons to think he can turn it around.
• Arthur (€31.00M): showed good things but I think didn’t have enough opportunities in important matches. He leaves the club as part of another play in the president’s book to improve the team’s economy, or save himself some money in case he leaves before balancing the numbers.

Who? Why did they get signed? (Total spent €233.75M)

If you remember and know where more than 5 of these players play now, I’m sorry you’ve suffered with this players as much as me:

• Thomas Vermaelen (€19.00M): always injured, played a couple of good games but injured himself again and again.
• Douglas (€4.00M): played 8 games. Some of his highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-Q0fJhJbMY
• Arda Turan (€34.00M): hasn’t played a game at Barcelona since 2018 and yet his contract expired on August 2020. Was signed from Atlético de Madrid a season after a game against Barcelona in which he threw a shoe at the linesman, just what the team needed.
• André Gomes (€37.00M): pressure was too much and didn’t allow him to show his skills as he had in Valencia or now in Everton. It’s said that he was just signed so that Real Madrid didn’t sign him.
• Lucas Digne (€16.50M) and Paco Alcácer (€30.00M): good players that I think didn’t have enough chances to prove their quality and have since shown it in other teams.
• Aleix Vidal (€17.00M), Denis Suárez (€3.25M) and Gerard Deulofeu (€12.00M): young La Masia players that came back to prove they could play at Barcelona but didn’t succeed. I think they are good players but for teams where there isn’t as much pressure as in Barcelona or other top European teams.
• Yerry Mina (€11.80M): played 5 games. The most memorable thing he did was score a goal and do some weird dance to celebrate it.
• Marlon (€5.00M) and Jeison Murillo (loan fee €1.20M): played 3 and 4 games respectively.
• Malcom (€41.00M): showed some quality but didn’t get that many chances under Valverde. It’s said that Valverde wanted Iñaki Williams instead and therefore was probably signed just so AS Roma didn’t get him. A very childish way of “vengeance” for the defeat in the 2018 Champions League.
• Kevin-Prince Boateng (loan fee €1.00M): came as a backup striker, played 4 games and scored no goals.
• Jean-Clair Todibo (€1.00M): has been loaned out and hasn’t got many chances to play at the team, has played 5 games with the team.

To summarize:

• 12 recent signings, 12- 14 months, 1 of which is no longer in the club.
• 6 players hired before the summer of 2019 remain in the club with only 1 of them having a memorable career and a place in the team’s history. 2 could be considered good transfers with good enough performances and the rest haven’t proven themselves but still have a chance to change that.
• 23 players are no longer at the club, with 2 of them memorable, 6 that played their part and the other 15 didn’t get enough chances or were absolute failed transfers, in average they spent only 2 years at the club.
• The amount spent in the two bottom sections is €547.75M which is 63.7% of all the transfer fees of Bartomeu’s term from the summer of 2014 to the summer of 2019. Which means than more than half of the money spent in transfer hasn’t payed off well.

When more than half of the players signed in six years are already out of the club, with only five of them being considered good transfers and most of them spending on average only a two year stay at the club, the problem doesn’t seem to be on the pitch. When two of the most expensive transfers in the team’s history haven’t proven themselves or justified the investment in them, and most recently players’ salaries are so high that the team has been letting players go for free or very low fees (Suárez, Vidal and Rafinha) to avoid paying them any longer, the problem is definitely not a sporting problem. The problem is the terrible decisions the president and its board of directors have made.

By looking at the transfer market results you can see why most of Barcelona’s supporters see Bartomeu and his board of directors as incompetent and completely unaware of the quality a player needs to have to play at Barcelona. They have also proven to be incapable of recognizing what the team’s needs are, creating a project or managing a club. Hopefully by the time you’re reading this the president and his board are gone and they are forever remembered as the board that gave the club an institutional crisis that wasted Messi’s best years and failed to continue the legacy of the best team the club had ever seen.