How Barcelona weakened after disappointing transfer window


Barcelona has completed one of the most frustrating transfer windows in recent club history. While the Catalans completed the signings of Ousmane Dembele, Paulinho, Gerard Deulofeu and Nelson Semedo, it is clear that missing out on world-class talent such as Paulo Dybala, Marco Verratti and Philippe Coutinho after months of chasing their signatures is disappointing.

Having said all of the above, it was in fact the unexpected departure of Neymar to Paris Saint Germain right after Barcelona returned for their USA Tour that upset Culés the most. The Brazilian star had been consistently performing in the Top 5 of world football for a number of seasons and, together with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, was an integral part of our club’s best ever attacking trio — or ‘El Tridente’, as us locals preferred to call it.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to hide the fact that the current Barcelona squad has been weakened over the summer. Sure, the signings of Dembele and Semedo are particularly encouraging but, while both arrivals have plenty of potential, the mere fact of not being able to rely on Neymar’s magic upfront has diminished the quality at Ernesto Valverde’s disposal.

As we describe in far more detail in Episode 30 of The Barcelona Podcast, under-pressure president Josep Maria Bartomeu has plenty of explaining to do in order to justify his many controversial decisions this summer — Check it out here:

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