Barcelona most expensive signings: Coutinho still tops list

Barcelona have got themselves into a position of severe financial difficulty in recent years. That is at least partially down to some very questionable transfer business in the late 2010’s.

Their biggest purchases all came during that period and a rundown of Barcelona’s most expensive signings does not make particularly pleasant reading for fans of the Catalan club, with far more misses than hits. Some of those errors are still having a knock-on impact to this day with Barca needing to be realistic with their 2025 summer transfer targets.

Barcelona most expensive signings: The top five

1) – Ousmane Dembele – €148m

An arrival in the 2017/18 season using the Neymar cash was Ousmane Dembele who joined for a very big transfer fee from Borussia Dortmund. While Dembele’s contribution to Barcelona was greater than that of a number of other players on this list like Coutinho, the Frenchman was a frustrating figure throughout much of his six years in La Liga. 

He averaged just four league goals per season across that spell, with injuries and inconsistent form hampering the talented winger who ultimately left for PSG in a €50m deal in 2023.

2) – Philippe Coutinho – €135m

Many of Barca’s problems actually started following the world-record sale of Neymar to PSG in 2017. The club responded by going big in the transfer market, with two huge signings that remain their most costly buys.

€135m was forked out on Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho but the Brazilian would go on to have a nightmare time at Camp Nou.  After a challenging 18 months, where he struggled to live up to the astronomical fee, Coutinho was loaned out to Bayern Munich.

He finally departed the club on a permanent basis in 2022 to join Aston Villa for a fraction of the fee Barca initially paid for his services.

3) – Antoine Griezmann – €120m

The third player that Barcelona have forked out more than €100m for is Antoine Griezmann. While the Frenchman has been one of the undisputed stars of La Liga over the past decade, he struggled to produce anything like his best football in the Catalan capital.

Griezmann felt like the wrong fit from almost day one, largely because Barca already had the best number 10 in the world in the shape of Leo Messi. While he did still manage to score 35 times across his two seasons at Camp Nou, Griezmann struggled to win over the Barca fanbase and returned to Atletico Madrid in 2021.

4) – Neymar – €88m

Barcelona’s fourth most expensive signing of all-time is Neymar and the Brazilian was an undisputed success following his 2013 transfer from Santos. Forming part of an iconic front three alongside Messi and Luis Suarez, Neymar helped fire Barca to the treble in the 2014/15 season.

However, he would ultimately grow frustrated at having to play second fiddle to Messi, a big factor in his decision to move to Paris in 2017.

5) – Frenkie de Jong – €86m

Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong joined Barcelona for €86m in 2019 following a successful UCL run with Ajax. Five years on, the jury is still out to some extent on whether the now 27-year-old has proved value for money.

Barca have struggled to find the right role for De Jong, and the emergence of the likes of Pedri and Gavi has added to the sense that they would be more than open to cashing on the Dutchman, should a big offer come in.

Barcelona most expensive signings: Could another player join the list?

At the time of writing, Barcelona are not close to making any new signings for anywhere near the total transfer fees that they paid for the players on the list above. However, that is not to say that they will not in the future, providing that their dire financial situation starts to clear up.

One player that has been mooted to potentially join Barca in the future is Newcastle and Sweden international striker Alexander Isak, who would demand a transfer fee similar if not higher to the ones above should the Magpies let him leave St. James' Park.

Isak could eventually succeed the great Robert Lewandowski, who even though he is still a world-class striker on his day, is getting on in terms of age. Isak is considerably younger than the Polish forward, and so his best years are still ahead of him.

However, 2024/25 Premier League champions Liverpool are reportedly in the driving seat in terms of potentially securing Isak's signature, having had a bid of £110m plus add-ons rejected for the Swede. Should Barca wish to bring him to Spain, then they may need to act quickly.