Barcelona’s failed signing trio of Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele, and Antoine Griezmann are all leaving the club. Barcelona lost more than 400 billion won in the process of signing and selling the three players.
Dembele is on the verge of leaving Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). Dembele joined Barcelona from Borussia Dortmund in 2017. His six-year stay at the Catalan capital was short-lived, and while he has recently overcome his attitude issues and adapted well to coach Carlo Ancelotti’s tactics, the financially strapped club decided to accept PSG’s offer in order to offload his hefty salary.
Dembele’s arrival marked the beginning of a period of frustration for Barcelona in the transfer market. Neymar’s departure to PSG to leave the shadow of Lionel Messi sent Barcelona into a tailspin. They spent €140 million on Dembele, while Coutinho, formerly of Liverpool, was acquired for €135 million. At the time, they had to spend a little more than the €222 million ($317.9 billion) they received from Neymar’s transfer fee. But both signings were busts.메이저놀이터
In 2019, they brought in Griezmann from Atletico Madrid to form a new “big three” before Messi and Luis Suarez got too old. Griezmann’s form was better, but tactically he was tricky to coexist with Messi, and he was unable to recreate his Atletico form.
Eventually, the three players left the team one after another. Coutinho was loaned to Bayern Munich in 2019-2020, Aston Villa in 2021-2022, and last year he moved to Aston Villa outright. Griezmann was loaned back to Atletico for the 2021-2022 season before completing his move last year.
The transfer fees of the three players pale in comparison to the money they cost to sign. Coutinho’s transfer cost €20 million. He also owed Bayern €8.5 million on his previous loan. Griezmann left for a fee of €10 million, followed by a transfer fee of €20 million. Dembele’s transfer was reportedly valued at €50 million (KRW 71.6 billion).
The three players cost a total of 395 million euros ($565.5 billion) to acquire, and even if you include their sales and rental income, it’s only 18.5 million euros ($155.3 billion). It was a trio that was underutilized in terms of performance, losing over 400 billion won.
The financial crisis stemmed from a number of failings at the club, not the least of which was a series of transfer market fiascos in which the club was reckless and impulsive. The club often spent big money on players that turned out to be dubious acquisitions. Trincan is an outright bust, and the performances of semi-stars like Perran Torres and Zafinha have been less than satisfactory.
This summer, Barcelona made some belated austerity moves, signing Ilkay Gundogan and Inigo Martinez on free agency and adding Oriol Romeu to the much-needed defensive midfield position for a transfer fee of just €3.4 million.