5 Most baffling transfers conducted by Barcelona
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