Grading the summer transfer window: Barcelona?
Ah, a topic of controversy, isn’t it? Barcelona and the summer transfer window – or anything related with transfers – aren’t the best of friends. They signed Ibrahimovic one summer for a club-record fee and then let him go the very next. And then there are the likes of Keirrison – remember him? – and Alexander Hleb that Barcelona fans don’t even want to be reminded.
However, this summer was the absolute peak of mismanagement from the Barcelona board. Things have gotten so far out of hand that the fans want current president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, out of the club at this very moment.
Obviously, when your second best attacker leaves the club while also leaving the future of the best player in the world in doubt, the least you could ask for is the board being sacked for not being competent. However, things haven’t been entirely terrible for the Catalans as they have actually been able to strengthen in areas where they were depleted before.
So, here is an attempt to grade Barcelona’s summer…
OUT
I like to bring the worst things out first because leaving them for later always leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Obviously, if you accidentally gorge faeces or something similar like dry-fish and then eat something as salivating and delicious as a pepperoni pizza, the terrible taste of the earlier stuff will fade away at least a little by the time you swallow the last bit of that pizza.
Departures: Jeremy Mathieu (Sporting), Cristian Tello (Betis), Neymar Jr (PSG), Samper (on loan to Las Palmas), Marlon Santos (on loan to Nice), Douglas (on loan to Benfica).
Neymar
While Barcelona may have seen quite a few players leave this season, Neymar is the only one that could be counted in this section since Cristian Tello wasn’t already in the club and the rest left on a free transfer or loan.
Now, now, let’s not get much into the details about this – this whole summer was about that anyway, so we have had more than just a fair share of how things have been regarding Neymar joining Paris-Saint Germain.
In short, this was a terrible thing to happen for Barcelona. The Catalans wanted to bully PSG over Marco Verratti but got themselves owned by PSG’s response. Even though Neymar left Barca with a sizeable amount of money, the moral defeat from his departure is something from which no fan can overcome.
The fact that his gargantuan transfer price of €222 million is the least talked-of aspect of this deal sheds a lot of light on the way this transfer is seen. However, the fact that Barcelona received a world-record payment can’t be completely overlooked, hence…
Grading: 1/10
That ‘one’ is for the economic gain only.