Barcelona signed five players, including Frenkie de Jong, in a £220 million summer transfer killing rampage.
While Frenkie de Jong remains linked with a move to the Premier League, a number of players who joined Barcelona during the same transfer window have already moved to England.
The summer of 2019 may be remembered by Barcelona fans as a watershed moment in the club's history.
Barcelona were looking to bounce back strongly after their dramatic elimination from the Champions League the previous season, and manager Ernesto Valverde was given a large transfer budget after winning La Liga in 2019. Three years later, however, the majority of the group has left, including Frenkie de Jong, who looks set to join Manchester United in a deal worth an initial £56 million.
De Jong joins after a breakout season with Ajax, where he helped the Dutch club reach the Champions League semi-finals. The six signings, however, were a mix of young talents, obvious sure things, and squad padding.
The only thing that binds the five players who signed with the Dutchman is their inability to make an impact at Camp Nou. Mirror Football investigates those signings and what happened next.
Royal Emerson
De Jong was one of three new arrivals announced on July 1, along with Emerson. However, the deal for the Brazilian international was announced in January as part of a joint venture with Real Betis.
The right-back spent the previous season on loan at Betis from Atletico Mineiro, and he returned to Estadio Benito Villamarin after joining Barcelona. After two impressive seasons in Sevilla, Barcelona exercised their option to bring him back in 2021, but he only played three times for them in La Liga before leaving again.
As Barcelona faced financial difficulties during Ronald Koeman's tenure, Emerson was sold to Tottenham Hotspur. "Do I feel cheated? Used is not the right word, but the way it was said hurt me "After his Barcelona dream ended abruptly, the defender stated.
Neto
On the same day, we witnessed the first of a series of de facto swap deals that Barcelona would engage in over the next few years. Valencia goalkeeper Neto joined the club for €26 million (£22.2 million) shortly after Jasper Cillessen left.
Cillessen had been Marc-Andre ter Stegen's understudy, and Neto would end up doing the same. The 32-year-old has appeared in just 21 games for the club in three seasons.
In 2020, the goalkeeper was linked with Arsenal, but the Gunners instead signed Alex Runarsson. He's still on Barcelona's books, but he's in the final year of his deal.
Griezmann, Antoine
Griezmann received nearly half of Barcelona's €255 million (£218 million) outlay during the 2019 summer window. The French forward cost €120 million after scoring 133 goals in five seasons with Atletico Madrid, and many expected him to improve on his one-in-two record with Barcelona's supply line.
Cucurella, Marc
Cucurella's performance on loan at Eibar and Getafe prompted Barcelona to activate a buy-back clause in order to keep the defender on their books. He never played a senior game for his parent club, instead joining Getafe on a permanent basis in 2020.
After a strong season at Coliseum Alfonso Perez, the Catalan-born player made his Spain debut in the summer of 2021 before moving on. Getafe made a tidy profit by selling him to Brighton & Hove Albion for a reported £16 million.
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