Nine Barca signings who were meant to be the business… but weren’t

Barcelona are a club that prides itself on bringing as many youth products as possible, but they have also splashed the cash when deemed necessary.

Plenty of already established superstars have walked through the doors at the Camp Nou to play alongside the likes of Lionel Messi and Carlos Puyol, but for every Ronaldinho or Dani Alves, there was a player who arrived with a big reputation and departed soon after with their tail between their legs.

We’ve taken a look at some signings over the years who were meant to be superstars but ultimately stunk out the place, and there were plenty to pick from.

Not much needs to be said about this one.

Still the Spanish giant’s record signing at £140million, his best performance in a Barcelona game came when on loan at Bayern Munich, scoring twice in the infamous 8-2 against his parent club.

Liverpool were laughing on their way to the bank. Coutinho is currently tearing it up at Aston Villa but it was never meant to be this way.

Flashback to Coutinho embarrassing Barcelona while on loan at Bayern pic.twitter.com/STBfVKL0H2

— GOAL (@goal) October 21, 2020

Another one of the rising stars signed to replace Neymar, Dembele arrived as a 20-year-old from Borussia Dortmund and was considered to be on a similar level to Kylian Mbappe.

£120million later, and an even bigger hospital bill, the France international averages about five games per season and fails to impress on the rare occasion where his knees work. Never trust a Dortmund winger.

Although, with his contract due to expire at the end of the current season, Dembele is suddenly turning in some impressive performances for Xavi’s Barca. They won’t fall for it though. Surely?

Although the 40-year-old who still calls himself a ‘lion’ has