The 7 midfielders Barcelona signed to replace Iniesta and how they fared

When Andres Iniesta left Barcelona in the summer of 2018 after winning every trophy on offer, the club knew that finding a replacement for one of the greatest midfielders of all time would be a near-impossible task.

Barcelona’s dip in performances over the last few years can be somewhat attributed to Iniesta’s departure, despite spending a lot of money trying to fill the void left by the Spanish legend, who broke into the first team in 2002.

Iniesta joined Vissel Kobe in the Japanese top flight, where he is currently in his fifth season, whilst his former midfield partner Xavi has Barcelona firing again after returning to become Barcelona’s head coach in November 2021.

Barcelona’s recent resurgence since Xavi’s appointment has been led by the youth within the team, with the likes of Gavi and Nico Gonzalez following in the footsteps of Iniesta and Xavi before them after being promoted from Barcelona B.

Aside from the academy, Barcelona signed seven midfielders to fill the void left by Iniesta with varying degrees of success, and a big hole in the club’s bank account. Here’s how they got on.

Although Coutinho was signed in January 2018, when Iniesta was in his final six months at the club, his upcoming departure was a big reason for spending a whopping £120million – with over £20million in add-ons – on Liverpool’s Brazilian star.

Capable of playing both as a central midfielder and a left-winger, similar to Iniesta, the Brazilian was seen as someone who could replace the creativity of the Spaniard and the goal threat of Neymar, who had joined PSG a few months before.

After an initial bright start, Coutinho completely faded away at Barcelona, to the extent that he moved on loan to Bayern Munich less than two seasons after