Xavi comments prove Barcelona summer transfers failed

James Shearman

• Updated: 27 Oct 2022 19:10 BST
• 3 min read

Xavi's damning comments following Barcelona's Champions league elimination prove that the club's summer transfer business has flopped.

Barca spent €153 million on new players in the most recent transfer window, with the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha arriving at Camp Nou.

But those acquisitions failed to prevent the Catalan club from exiting the Champions League at the group stage.

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And the concerns for Barcelona are not just that they have been knocked out of the competition, but the way in which it happened.

''We just didn’t compete,'' Xavi said of the 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich. ''We weren’t at [Bayern’s] level tonight, they were better. Simple as that. Now we have to keep going and think about the league.

''A lot of it has been our own mistakes, our lack of effectiveness. It was too late tonight. It’s a cruel way to say farewell, we leave with bad feelings.''

Barcelona's summer signings

Barcelona completed one of the most remarkable transfer windows in memory as they splashed out €153m.

La Blaugrana sacrificed future income for immediate cash, selling 25% of their La Liga TV rights for the next 25 years, plus a huge chunk of their merchandising arm.

The Catalan club then decided to spend it on big-name stars rather than repay their debt, which saw them complete a window of star-studded arrivals.

Three of their new acquisitions, however, didn't cost a transfer fee. Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessie and Hector Bellerin arrived at Camp Nou as free agents.

Barcelona also signed three superstars for €45m or more, completing deals for long-term targets Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde.

Lewandowski completed his long-drawn-out move from Bayern Munich to Barcelona, with the Polish international arriving for a fee of €45m plus €5m in add-ons.

Raphinha signed for €58m from Leeds United after the Brazilian rejected moves to both Arsenal and Chelsea.

While Kounde joined after also turning down a more lucrative move to Chelsea, costing an initial €50m from Sevilla with an additional €5m in add-ons.

Up-and-coming talent Pablo Torre, who came on in Wednesday's defeat to Bayern, signed from Racing Santander for €5m.