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As soon as the news of the sale of Arthur Melo by FC Barcelona to Juventus for $ 79m surfaced, it just pushed the fans' and pundits' confidence in Barcelona's transfer policy and future plans to a new low.
Even for the 'cules', or as Barcelona fans are known, who are now accustomed to bizarre signings (and non-signings), non-fluid playing style, and seeing their football God Lionel Messi's last years being wasted, this news came as a shock.
How a player, who was once likened to the midfield maestro Xavi Hernandez by both Messi and Xavi himself, found himself surplus to requirements in less than two years must force a look at the deteriorating state of affairs at both Barcelona's boardroom level and their managers' tactics, particularly those of Ernesto Valverde and Quique Setien.
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The primary reason being stated by Barcelona for the shocking transfer of Arthur is the need to raise funds for balancing the books. Barcelona need to raise $ 43m by June 30 to avoid ending the financial year in negative and the subsequent signing of Lautaro Martínez. But a deeper look reveals how Barcelona's dismal transfers over recent years have doomed them to sell one of their most promising assets just for the need to comply with Financial Fair Play (FPP) Rules.
Barcelona's transfer policy has bordered on the reckless:
Since the departure of Neymar in the summer of 2017, Barcelona's transfer policy has been haphazard, reckless, hurried and impatient, one that is without any long-term outlook and just focusses on signing superstars.
While the signings of Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho for exorbitant sums were understandable given the need to fill the void left by Neymar's departure and Barcelona's desperation, most other Barcelona signings and departures have been disappointing.
The likes of Paco Alcacer and Andre Gomes were heavily underutilised and mostly played out of positions. Despite being a natural striker and a deadly poacher, Alcacer was often deployed on the wings. Even his brilliant performances as super-sub and winning moments such as the brace against Sevilla were overlooked.
Even when Alcacer had a strong case for being in the starting lineup for a lesser important league game as part of resting Luis Suarez for an impending UEFA Champions League clash, he was overlooked. He did not get even a single minute. As luck would have it, Barcelona crashed out of the Champions League, with fatigue to their key players being cited as the primary reason.
Even Andre Gomes, a natural holding midfield player who likes to play in a double pivot, lost his confidence after being played out of position in left midfield and sometimes the wingback positions. Eventually, Alcacer and Gomes were both loaned out, and due to lack of proper buy-back options, had to be offloaded by Barcelona at heavy losses.
Paco Alcacer, with his goal-scoring prowess, subsequently broke many records in the Bundesliga, and Gomes has been a mainstay at Everton FC under Carlo Ancelotti.
The Antoine Griezmann transfer in 2019 presented a similar conundrum. Griezmann has always been suited to a two-man attack, as opposed to the 4-3-3 formation that Barcelona employ. Greizmann is not a proper striker as Suarez is, hence he isn't the Uruguayan's long-term successor.
The Frenchman's arrival meant that he had to compete with Ousmane Dembele for playing time. Neither Dembele has managed to remain injury-free, nor Griezmann has been able to find his proper place on the field for Barcelona.
Greizmann is left alone to find out whether he has to play as a winger, centre-forward or an attacking midfielder, though his best performance has arguably come as a centre-back when he has tracked back to help the defenders.
What is absurd in this transaction was that Barcelona shelled out $ 131m for a player who was not accustomed to their system, and had even ditched (and thus somewhat humiliated) them last summer.
A better bet would have been Barcelona focusing on bringing Joao Félix, who was 19 years old at that time and was subsequently bought by Atletico Madrid for € 126m. He is a more versatile winger and could have filled in for Dembele during the latter's frequent injury breaks. Felix is also a versatile forward and could have been developed into a natural striker.
Barcelona's inconsistent youth policies:
Barcelona's youth policy has similar flaws like their transfer policy, and has suffered from the club's impatience and lack of trust. Though Carles Alena (on loan at Real Betis), Riqui Puig and Ansu Fati have shown a lot of potential, others haven't been given significant chances.
Marc Cucurella was sold for a meagre € 6m to Getafe. Carles Pérez was swooped up by AS Roma for € 11m despite having quite promising performances this season. Jean-Clair Todibo was sent out on loan despite the absence of any cover for an ageing and increasingly injury-prone Gerard Pique.
This reckless offloading of players, lack of buy-back clauses and impatient loan spells have resulted in Barcelona having to make two hurried signings. The club signed strikers Kevin-Prince Boateng and Martin Braithwaite who have no notable qualities and are merely meant to provide cover for an ageing and increasingly rusty Luis Suarez.
Barcelona now have an ageing squad, with most of their star players on the wrong side of the 30s, and quite a few highly talented but untested young players, all while the spectre of FPP rule breaches is down their necks.
Barcelona do not have any satisfactory bids for their obvious flops Ousmane Dembele, Philippe Coutinho and probably Antoine Griezmann. Thus it is not too surprising that they are offloading one of their most talented players just for the sake of compliance. Barcelona have also tried to mend the hole by buying an overvalued Miralem Pjanic at $ 67m, who is fast approaching his final years and has been out of Juventus' matchday squads quite often this season.
It is no wonder that some pundits have even claimed that Barcelona are on their way towards becoming the next AC Milan.
