Barcelona’s well-known financial difficulties in the early 2020s spelled an end to their big-money spending – at least for the time being.
But a look at their most expensive ever signings might also suggest another reason they are less willing to put down nine-figure fees for players because their list of all-time biggest signings contains some really notable flops.
Here’s a look at the ten biggest signings Barcelona has ever made, starting at the top…
Who is the most expensive Barcelona player of all time?
Philippe Coutinho struggled to impress at Barcelona And we have a tie! At least, if you go on the spend in Euros rather than the conversion to pounds sterling at the time, which only seems sensible, since Euros is the currency Barcelona will have used.
Both Philippe Coutinho’s signing from Liverpool in 2018 and Antoine Griezmann’s arrival from Atletico Madrid the following year set Barcelona back a cool €120m – miles more than the kind of money they’d been able to spend over the past few more straitened years. Those fees mean both players rank among the most expensive players of all time.
Neither player exactly set the world alight during their time at the club. Griezmann lasted just two-and-a-bit seasons, scoring 35 goals in all competitions, before being returned to Atletico (first on loan, then permanently) and finding better form again.
Coutinho was an outright flop despite looking promising in his first half-season at the club. Within a few months of his arrival he faced scathing criticism from fans, and was sent out on loan to Bayern Munich in 2019, then to Aston Villa in January 2022, before making his move to Villa Park permanent that summer.
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Who held the all time record transfer fee for a Barcelona player before Coutinho and Griezmann?
Ousmane Dembele held the record before Coutinho and Griezmann (Image credit: Getty)That honour belongs to Barcelona’s only other €100m+ signing, Ousmane Dembele, who came in from Borussia Dortmund for €105m in 2017. The winger spent six seasons at Barcelona before walking the well-trodden path to PSG in 2023 for roughly half the money.
Barca had got more than their money back from another former record holder by shipping him out to Paris, though.
Neymar was a club-record signing for Barcelona at €88.2m in 2013, but they sold the Brazilian for nearly three times that amount in 2017, just a few months after putting in a scintillating Champions League display against PSG that is ranked at no.38 in FourFourTwo’s list of the greatest individual performances of all time. The €222m PSG paid remains the highest transfer fee ever paid in the history of football.
And before Neymar? Zlatan Ibrahimovic, is another massive-money signing who never looked at home at the Nou Camp after moving from Inter in 2009. A fall-out with Pep Guardiola meant he only lasted a year at Barca before being sent out to AC Milan.
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RankFeePlayerFromYear1=€120mPhilippe CoutinhoLiverpool20181=€120mAntoine GriezmannAtletico Madrid20193€105mOusmane DembeleBorussia Dortmund20174€88.2mNeymarSantos20135€82.3mLuis SuarezLiverpool20146€75mFrenkie de JongAjax20197€69.5mZlatan IbrahimovicInter20098€60mMiralem PjanicJuventus20209€58mRaphinhaLeeds United202210€55mFerran TorresManchester City2022
