Barcelona had a busy summer transfer window, as you would expect from the Catalan giants, signing Antoine Griezmann for €120 million, as well young Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong for €75 million.
The duo were just two of several arrivals at Camp Nou as the side meant business in the transfer window.
But, going by the troubles that they have had at the start of the Spanish Primera season, there may have been a few things that they could have done differently.
Let’s take a look at 3 big mistakes Barcelona made in the transfer window:
Allowing the Neymar saga to go on for so long
In a shocking turn of events, former Barcelona attacker, Neymar, who currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain, expressed interest to return to the Catalan giants, with both clubs discussing a bumper deal to see him return to the Nou Camp.
The negotiations to bring back the Brazilian went on for a long time and till the last stages of the summer transfer window, but the two clubs could not agree to a deal.
Reports have suggested that Barcelona could yet re-sign the Brazilian next year, and as early as the 2020 January transfer window.
Failure to sign goal-scoring midfielder
Barcelona have a menacing front three of Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann, and Lionel Messi, who scored a combined total of 97 goals last season (Messi scored more than half of the goals – 51).
While the three attackers that Barcelona have could score loads of goals, there aren’t too many in midfield who could even score 10 in a season.
New signing Frenkie de Jong and Brazilian Arthur are players who keep hold of the ball and pass it around, and score very few goals, while Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto are defensive players who haven’t scored many goals in their Barca career.
The one player who could score 10+ goals a season was Philippe Coutinho, who was loaned out to Bayern Munich. If the front three fail, the absence of a goal-scoring midfielder could haunt the side this season.
Backup wide player
Barcelona have several central midfielders and adequate defenders, but seem to have a shortage of wide players.
Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann play in the wide positions for the club, while Ousmane Dembélé is the backup winger on the bench.
If Barcelona have two of their famed front three injured, they could find it tough to score goals or make assists from the wide areas.
Barcelona should have signed a replacement for Malcom and Coutinho, and should have had a Plan B if the Neymar deal failed, which eventually did happen. Although academy star Carles Perez has shown he might have a big say this season, he is still pretty inexperienced.