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#3 Miralem Pjanic
In a swap deal that somehow left both teams worse off, Miralem Pjanic joined Barcelona in the summer of 2020. The Bosnian midfielder was brought in after a successful stint at Juventus with Arthur Melo going the other way.
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Pjanic struggled during the 2020-21 season and simply couldn't win Ronald Koeman's trust. He made just 13 starts for Barcelona in all competitions. Pjanic's arrival seemingly boosted Sergio Busquets's performance, with the veteran winding the clock back with some vintage displays. Resultantly, Koeman considered Busquets to be undroppable and Pjanic was sidelined to the bench.
Frenkie de Jong and Pedri occupied the other two midfield positions, which meant the Bosnian endured a horrible first season at the club. Pjanic, too, is on a massive salary and both the club and he are reportedly seeking an end to his Spanish nightmare this summer.
#2 Neto
Neto joined Barcelona in 2019 for a reported £23 million. The former Valencia keeper replaced Jasper Cillessen between the sticks as a backup for Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Since arriving at the Nou Camp two years ago, Neto has made just 17 official appearances for the Catalans. The Brazilian has failed to nail down a starting spot, often playing only in dead rubbers or due to injuries. With Ter Stegen potentially missing the start of the 2021-22 season after undergoing surgery, Neto could have started Barcelona's league season in goal.
However, the Catalans have already prepared to sell the 31-year-old with Arsenal among the clubs interested. Barcelona resident Joan Laporta reportedly wants the club to invest more in youth prospects. This could mean Inaki Pena and Arnau Tenas from the B team are likely to be promoted permanently to the first team. As a result, Neto is set to leave the Blaugrana this summer in a move that would make sense to both parties.
#1 Antoine Griezmann
Antoine Griezmann joined Barcelona from rivals Atletico Madrid amid much fanfare in the summer of 2019. The French forward was incredible for Diego Simeone's side before deciding to move to the Nou Camp for a reported £107 million.
While he hasn't been particularly awful for Barcelona, Griezmann has struggled to scale the heights he achieved at Atletico. The forward has scored 35 goals and provided 17 assists in 99 matches for Barcelona, winning a solitary Copa del Rey.
Griezmann's biggest problem upon joining was the lack of a cohesive side around him. The likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets were among the biggest names in an aging Barcelona side. The team was sluggish on the ball and struggled to break opponents down under Ernesto Valverde and Quique Setien.
The arrival of Ronald Koeman and several young players improved Griezmann's output in the 2020-21 season. The Frenchman scored 20 goals and assisted a further 13 during the campaign, proving his technical ability and knack for scoring goals.
However, his situation in the current transfer window sums up Barcelona's sorry state of affairs on the financial end. Despite being one of the best players last season and on this list, Griezmann is the closest out of these five players to exiting the club. After signing him for an excess of £100 million, Barcelona are now looking to trade him back to Atletico for Saul Niguez plus cash in a bid to get Griezmann off their wage list.
Talks on the deal are reported to have progressed into the advanced stages and the transfer could be completed soon. It would signal a premature end to Griezmann's Barcelona career through little fault of his own.
