Back in the day, Barcelona were one of the most intimidating sides on the planet. Those days seem to be far behind them, with Lionel Messi no longer at the club amida terrible financial and identity crisis haunting the Cules.
How did one of thebest teamsin the world sink so low? There’s not a single reason, but it’s a series of terrible decisions that led Barca to their mediocre current situation. Many of those bad calls had to do with their activity in the transfer windows.
Things began to go south for the Cules as they started to struggle when it came to acquiringplayers. Only a few of their signings proved to be worth the move, while countless names have come and gone. Recently, a report claimed Barca missed out on a fantastic signing in 2017.
Barcelona reportedly passed over on a €40 million-ratedcurrent Liverpool star
Four years ago, Neymar‘s departure from Barcelona to join PSG seemed to be the beginning of the end for the Blaugrana’s golden years. From then on, nobody was able to fill in the shoes of the Brazilian and Messi had to carry the team practicallyon his own.
Mohamed Salah was offered to Barcelona when he was at Roma before joining Liverpool. (Getty)
But things could have been different should the club seized on theopportunity of landing Mohamed Salah for a bargain of €40 million ($46m)fromRoma. According to Catalan outlet El Nacional, Barca were offered the Egyptian star for that summer but Josep Maria Bartomeu wasn’t interested.
Instead, Barcelona ended up splashing a mind-blowing €135 million ($148.50m) on Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund. Salah eventually joined Liverpool for €42m in what turned out to be one of the biggest bargains in recent years. Dembele, on the other hand, was plagued by injuries during his tenure in Barcelona and has yet to live up to expectations.
