Between failure and success:

RONALD DE BOER (98/99)

As a good twin brother, Ronald wanted to follow Frank in Catalonia to wear Barça’s shirt. Unfortunately for him, his trajectory was not as successful, far from being a total failure either. He only stayed 2 years at Camp Nou, playing only 4 games on his debut season, and 31 the following years, being used in almost every Champion’s League game. Unsatisfied with the course of things in Barcelona, Ronald signed for Glasgow Rangers in the transfer window of the 2000/01 season.

Failures:

DEMETRIO ALBERTINI (SEASON 2004/05)

Arrived from Atalanta aged 33, Demetrio Albertini wanted to end his career on a high note. He chose Barça to do so. Unfortunately for him, in a very highly competitive midfield, with Deco, Ronaldinho, Gerard, Xavi and Thiago Motta, it was hard to get game time. He only played 5 games and was crowned La Liga champion before to retire. Although it was a nice way to close the trophy cabin, it was not his best season.

MAXI LÓPEZ (SEASON 2004/05)

Maxi Lopez lived a similar situation, except for how old he was when he joined the blaugrana team. López was 20 years old when he joined Barça, hoping to launch his career in Europe after a promising start in Argentina with River Plate. Too young and too soft for La Liga, he only stayed 1 year and a half before to be loaned out to Mallorca and eventually sold to FK Moscow. During his time at Camp Nou, he played 18 games and scored 1 goal, in the last 16 round first leg of the Champion’s League against Chelsea.

IBRAHIM AFELLAY (SEASON 2010/11)

Now at Stoke City, Ibrahim Afellay once was one of Europe’s most promising talents. So much that Pep Guardiola wanted him in his squad. What really killed his blaugrana career were injuries. After a respectable first season, in which he was used as a supersub (28 games, 10 in the starting line-up, 18 as a substitute), and gave an assist to Messi in Champion’s League semi-final against Madrid, Afellay suffered a minor hamstring before suffering a bigger cruciate ligament injury, meaning he was out for 7 months. He never really could reach the required level to play at Camp Nou and was successively loaned out to Schalke (2012/13), Olympiakos (2014/15) before to join Stoke City.

JOSÉ MANUEL PINTO (SEASON 2007/08)

It was undoubtedly a better choice for him than for Barça. Maybe Pinto could have had a career as a starting goalkeeper in many 2nd or 3rd tier clubs in Europe. But he chose to stay at Camp Nou instead. Firstly he was on loan from Celta Vigo and played 3 games for Barça in the season 2007/08. And Blaugranas decided to sign him. He played 86 more conceding 74 goals (8 in his 3 first games). Eternal substitute to Victor Valdes, he left Barça and retired aged 40 in July 2014 after losing La Liga title to Atlético.

A strange case:

JUAN PABLO SORÍN (2002/03)

2002/03 Barça’s defense was probably not the best in the history of the club, despite the presence of Frank de Boer, Carles Puyol or Michael Reizinger. That is one reason why the Board wanted a left-back in the winter transfer window. His name would be Juan Pablo Sorín. Coming on a loan from Cruzeiro, the Argentine played 15 games with Barça, scoring one goal against Celta. Despite his good performances, Barça let go of him and he went to Villarreal, nearly reaching the Champion’s League final against…Barça in 2006. Arsenal was on his road. He went back to Cruzeiro after two years in Hamburg and retired.

It is very uneasy to make of a winter reinforcement a great signing. Generally, players are being loaned out and may not be as involved as they are when they sign a contract. For the few successes clubs have registered, there were many failures. Including for Barça. Nolito could have been a good addition – we might never know – but he could have been a bad one. Better safe than sorry.