FC Barcelona, a club that once held the reputation of winning titles with the help of their homegrown talent, have had a change of heart in recent times.
After Neymar’s departure to Paris Saint-Germain, the situation has only worsened with the Catalan club using the chequebook to paper over the cracks on the pitch.
The Blaugrana club has spent over €1 billion since 2014, which is more than anyone else in that period, but have lifted the Champions League title only once.
Let’s look at the five most expensive signings in the Blaugrana club’s history.
#5 Luis Suarez
The Uruguayan International signed for Barcelona after a controversial 2014 World Cup, also a time when he was at his best and almost unplayable.
One can say the incident involving him and Chiellini worked out in Barcelona’s favour as Liverpool sold the striker for €81.72 million, seeing he was banned until October that season and a good transfer fee became hard to turn down.
The former Ajax man quickly settled in at the Camp Nou and lifted the club’s second treble in his debut season. He has scored 177 goals for the Catalan club so far winning everything there is to win at the club level.
#4 Neymar Jr.
Neymar moved to Camp Nou in the summer of 2013, and formed a devastating trio with Suarez and Lionel Messi famously known as ‘MSN’.
He was the most expensive signing in the club’s history at the time arriving at an extravagant €88.20 million and was deemed the heir to Messi.
However, that didn’t last long as he moved to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2017 looking for a new challenge and his career has gone downhill ever since.
#3 Antoine Griezmann
The Frenchman was part of one of the most enthralling saga in football history.
After declining a move to Camp Nou last summer, Griezmann made a documentary named ‘La Decision’ to rub salt into the wounds of the Blaugrana fans.
But a lot can change inside a year and the World Cup winner finally arrived at the Catalan Club last week after the Spanish giants triggered his buy-out clause of €120 million.
#2 Ousmane Dembele
The football world saw one of the craziest transfers of Neymar Jr. in the summer of 2017 which then acted as a catalyst for two other insane moves, one of them was Ousmane Dembele.
The Frenchman made the move from Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth €125 million and it got ugly at the end with Dembele not showing up for training on numerous occasions.
The German club knew Barca had the money after the sale of the Brazilian and took advantage of the situation making the Catalan club pay such a huge amount for a 20-year-old.
#1 Philippe Coutinho
The drama post-Neymar didn’t finish as it was time to invest that money on a second big signing.
After failing to land Coutinho in the summer, the Blaugrana club went all-in during the winter window and splashed a whopping €145 million to land the Brazilian at Camp Nou.
However, none of these three signings has panned out well with Coutinho, Dembele and Neymar all struggling at their respective clubs.
Transfer fees courtesy Transfermarkt.com