The 989m euros spent by Barcelona in pursuit of a Champions League that never came
Barcelona haven’t won the Champions League since 2014/15, even if they’ve spent a staggering 989 million euros since then on 23 players.
This figure makes Catalans the highest spending club in Europe in that time, but it hasn’t been enough to bring them another Champions League title since that last triumph against Juventus in Berlin in 2015.
Here comes a look at where they spent all that money.
2015/16 season: 62m euros
The club’s first signing after their European triumph in Berlin was that of Arda Turan for 40m euros, who was then followed by Aleix Vidal for 22m euros the same summer – even though they couldn’t be registered until the winter due to a transfer ban.
2016/17: 140m euros season
In the 2015/16 campaign Barcelona picked up both the LaLiga Santander and Copa del Rey titles, but were eliminated from the Champions League by Atletico Madrid and therefore wanted to start the following season with the strongest squad possible.
Six new signings arrived at the Camp Nou at a total cost of 140m euros and none of them lived up to expectations.
The new faces that term were Andre Gomes (50m euros), Paco Alcacer (30m euros), Samuel Umtiti (25m euros), Lucas Digne (16m euros), Jasper Cillessen (16m euros) and Denis Suarez (3m euros).
This was the season where they pulled off that unforgettable comeback against Paris Saint Germain after losing 4-0 in Paris, but it wasn’t enough to avoid another European failure and the club crashed out to Juventus in the following round.
2017/18: 389m euros
The previous campaign had been difficult for Barcelona, with Real Madrid winning their second consecutive Champions League as well as the LaLiga Santander title.
Plus, Neymar had just been sold to PSG for a whopping 222m euros.
Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu reacted by spending 389m euros on five players: Philippe Coutinho (160m euros in January), Ousmane Dembele (145m euros), Paulinho (40m euros), Nelson Semedo (35m euros) and Yerry Mina (9m euros).
Of those five players, only Semedo played against Bayern Munich and Coutinho – who is currently on loan at the Bavarian club – scored twice and provided an assist in that match.
Barcelona would finally bow out of Europe that season by losing 3-0 to Roma at the Estadio Olimpico in Rome under Ernesto Valverde, but they did win the league.. continue reading