Barcelona's 25 most expensive transfers of all time

FT Desk

• Updated: 22 Oct 2025 07:10 CDT
• 12 min read

Analysis

Barcelona are arguably better known for developing youngsters at La Masia than spending big on transfers, but the Catalan giants have made a number of huge signings in the market over the years.

Some of these transfers have come against the backdrop of serious financial problems and a number of the club’s most expensive arrivals have fared extremely poorly at Camp Nou.

Below, we run through the 25 most expensive Barcelona signings in history.

25-16

25. Ronaldinho - €32.3m (from PSG, 2003)

What would prime Ronaldinho be worth in today's market?

€32.3m was a hefty fee at the time but the mercurial Brazilian would go on to become one of Barcelona's greatest ever players and the favourite player of fans of a certain generation.

He is your favourite footballer's favourite footballer.

Ronaldinho's utter brilliance and watchability helped set the stage for the club to return to glory after years of uncertainty, particularly in Europe. While at Barca, he helped them to their second-ever Champions League title and also won the Ballon d'Or.

Mere mortals don't receive a standing ovation from the Real Madrid crowd at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Ronaldinho did.

24. Cesc Fabregas - €34m (from Arsenal, 2011)

After years developing into one of the best midfielders around in the Premier League with Arsenal. Cesc Fabregas finally returned home to Catalunya in 2011.

A La Masia graduate, Cesc was friends with the likes of Gerard Pique and Messi so this looked like a match made in heaven.

He did win La Liga with Barcelona but, having joined a side that had won two out of the previous three Champions League titles, his tenure was underwhelming.

Initially a midfielder, he would eventually find himself playing in the 'False 9' role on occasion and things just didn't click. He was eventually sold to Chelsea, where he flourished.

23. Arda Turan - €34m (from Atletico, 2015)

Arda Turan's transfer to Barcelona was doomed from the start for a few reasons.

Firstly, due to a 'transfer ban', he was unable to be registered as a Barcelona player until January of 2016 so that left him on the sidelines with no playing time for six months.

Secondly, he faced an uphill battle to get into the team as Barca boasted one of the best attacking trios of all time in Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez.

The move just didn't work, and in the 2017/18 season he didn't play a single minute of football for the club.

22. Dani Alves - €35.5m (from Sevilla, 2008)

Many football fans consider Dani Alves to be the best right-back ever.

He is one of the most decorated players ever thanks to his time at Barca as he won six La Liga titles, three Champions League titles and four Copa del Rey trophies among other honours.

Under Guardiola, he redefined the right-back role and his partnership with Messi down that right flank initially helped the Argentine learn his trade to become the become to the GOAT.

21. Nelson Semedo - €35.7m (from Benfica, 2017)

Dani Alves left Barcelona in 2016 and - although he returned on a free transfer as a 38-year-old in a PR move - it is questionable whether they have ever managed to find his heir. Aleix Vidal was poor, Sergi Roberto a converted midfielder, and then there was Nelson Semedo.

Semedo never got to grips with Barca’s playing style and was never a particularly good defender.

The final nail in his Barcelona coffin came in the latter stages of the Champions League in 2019-20 in which he was torn apart by Bayern Munich left-back Alphonso Davies in an 8-2 loss.

Barcelona somehow somehow recouped their money from the purchase when Wolves signed him in the summer of 2020.

20. Javier Saviola - €35.9m (from River, 2001)

There's a footballing graveyard of players who were once dubbed 'the next Diego Maradona' and Javier Saviola, unfortunately for him, failed to live up to such expectations.

Barca paid huge money to sign him from River back in 2001 and although he doesn't have a terrible goalscoring record - 49 goals in 123 La Liga matches - he was at the club at a time when things weren't consistent as he played under three different managers.

After two loans to Sevilla and Monaco he would, controversially, sign for Real Madrid on a free transfer.

19. Clement Lenglet - €35.9m (from Sevilla, 2018)

Clement Lenglet is a decent defender but he never really fit in with Barcelona's style and was criticised at times for his use of the ball from the back.

He was shipped out on loan to Tottenham, Aston Villa and Atletico Madrid before making a permanent switch to the Spanish capital club in 2025.

18. Andre Gomes - €37m (from Valencia 2016)

When Barcelona opted to buy Andre Gomes for €37m plus significant add-ons in 2016, they already had a midfield consisting of Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta.

Though squad players are required at a club such as Barca, Gomes was never going to break into that trio in midfield as a key starter.

Injury problems played a part in his unsuccessful stay in Catalunya, but even when Gomes did play, it was usually against the tempo of his team-mates.

17. Paulinho - €40m (from Guangzhou Evergrande, 2017)

There is indeed something fishy about Barcelona spending €40m to sign a 29-year-old midfielder playing in the Chinese Super League, and it's ever more fishy that Barcelona actually made a profit on the player when they sold him back two years later. But, that's what they did with Paulinho.

The Brazilian didn't receive a particularly warm welcome by the Barca fans as he was initially viewed as a replacement for Neymar of sorts as he was the club's first signing after Neymar was sold.

He did win La Liga with Barca but he was there at a time when everything at the club just seemed disjointed.

They played 4-4-2 with him in the team, for goodness sake.

16. David Villa - €40m (from Valencia, 2010)

After the failed Zlatan Ibrahimovic experiment, Pep Guardiola went back to signing nimble, talented forward again and found a gem in David Villa, who had been busy lighting up La Liga with Valencia.

Villa quickly formed an immense front three with Pedro and Messi and they trio hit the zenith of their partnership as they dismantled Manchester United in the 2011 Champions League final.

The Spaniard wasn't treated was a lot of respect towards the end but he got his own back - he signed for Atletico Madrid and won La Liga.

15-11

15. Marc Overmars - €40m (from Arsenal, 2000)

After being a key player for Arsene Wenger's rejuvenated Arsenal, Marc Overmars became the most expensive Dutch player in history at the time when he signed for Barcelona.

Unfortunately for him, he failed to win a single piece of silverware with the Blaugrana.

Upheaval involving coaches, as well as a poor injury record, actually led to his retirement in 2004, though he would return for a short spell with Go Ahead Eagles.

14. Malcom - €41m (from Bordeaux, 2018)

Malcom moved to Barcelona in the summer of 2018 off the back of a terrific season in Ligue 1 with Bordeaux but was unable to continue his progress at Camp Nou.

The young Brazilian impressed in France with his eye-catching long-range shooting. But playing for Bordeaux and Barcelona are very different things and his move to the Catalan giants proved rushed.

There is no doubt that Bordeaux negotiated well to get €41m for a player who was a scorer of great goals rather than a great scorer of goals, and Malcom was soon moved onto Zenit Saint Petersburg.

13. Robert Lewandowski - €45m (from Bayern Munich, 2022)

Robert Lewandowski was 33 when he signed from Bayern after he decided he wanted a change of scenery after winning everything possible with the German giants.

He has been a huge success at Barca, with 73 goals scored in 110 matches for the club, at the time of writing.

As of the 2025/26 campaign so far, injuries have left him as a periphery figure, no longer considered an automatic starter. It seems likely he will not receive a contract extension.

12. Jules Kounde - €50m (from Sevilla, 2022)

Jules Kounde was initially signed as a centre-back but has made the right-back position his own at the Camp Nou and is one of the team's most reliable players.

Barcelona are desperate for money and have been for a number of years, so it highlights Kounde's importance that the club have regularly turned down big offers for their player from clubs in the Premier League.

11. Dani Olmo - €55m (from RB Leipzig, 2024)

There was a time when Dani Olmo will have regretted his move home to Barcelona as wage restrictions meant that he was unable to be registered to play for the opening two matches of the season.

He would eventually make his debut but salary cap restrictions came into play again. In January of 2025, he could have made himself a free agent if he desired as Barca failed to register him and team-mate Pau Cubarsi at the start of the year.

The National Sports Council approved his registration later than January and it is now in 2025/26 that he can finally focus on his football.

10. Ferran Torres - €55m (from Man City, 2022)

Ferran Torres became the first major signing of Xavi's reign as Barcelona head coach when he completed a €55m move from Manchester City in January 2022.

Xavi specifically requested the signing of Ferran in an attempt to rebuild the first-team squad at Camp Nou and the Spaniard jumped at the chance to return to his homeland, despite enjoying a successful 18-month spell under Pep Guardiola.

Ferran left Man City having scored 16 goals in 43 games for the club and he helped Barcelona win La Liga in 2023 and 2025.

9. Raphinha - €58m (from Leeds, 2022)

Barcelona completed the signing of Leeds winger Raphinha for €58m during the 2022 summer transfer window, beating Chelsea to his signature in a major coup for the Blaugrana.

The Spanish giants had been struggling with financial issues in the weeks leading up to the transfer, but they splashed the cash to bring the Brazilian to Camp Nou ahead of the 2022-23 season.

Raphinha struggled during his first two seasons at Barcelona, but he exploded into one of the best players in world football during the 2024-25 campaign and he was nominated for the Ballon d’Or.

8. Miralem Pjanic - €60m (from Juventus, 2020)

The fact that Barcelona paid Juventus €60m for a 30-year-old who had badly declined over the previous two seasons raised serious eyebrows.

In reality, Barca’s decision to sign Pjanic and sell Arthur Melo to Juventus for an equally inflated price of €80.6m was an accounting trick designed to help both debt-fuelled teams balance the books.

Pjanic struggled horribly in his first season at Barcelona, making just six La Liga starts and failing to score across all competitions. He then spent the 2021-22 season on loan at Besiktas, before joining Sharjah in the UAE on a permanent deal.

7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic - €69.5m (from Inter, 2009)

Financially, Barcelona’s signing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic was one of the worst deals of all time. They not only splashed out €69.5m for the Inter star, but they also handed over a world-class attacker in Samuel Eto’o too.

Although Zlatan’s goal record was good at Camp Nou - 21 goals in 45 games on the way to winning La Liga and five trophies in one year - his time in Catalunya soon turned sour.

He fell out with Pep Guardiola, lost his place in the starting XI as Lionel Messi was converted into a ‘false nine’, and suffered the ignominy of seeing Eto’o and Inter beat Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals. After just one year at Barcelona, Ibrahimovic returned to San Siro - with AC Milan - for a cut-price fee of €24m.

6. Luis Suarez - €81.7m (from Liverpool, 2014)

After dreaming of Barcelona for a number of years, Luis Suarez finally secured the move he wanted when he left Liverpool for Camp Nou in 2014.

Despite signing on a five-year deal for a then-club record fee of €81.7m, Suarez was immediately banned from playing or even training with his new club until October after biting Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup.

However, over the course of six seasons at the Catalan club, Suarez scored a remarkable 195 goals and bagged a further 113 assists in 283 games, picking up no less than four league titles, four Copa del Rey trophies and the 2015 Champions League.

5. Frenkie de Jong - €86m (from Ajax, 2019)

After helping Ajax win a domestic double and march to the semi-finals of the Champions League, Frenkie de Jong was one of the most sought-after talents in world football in the summer of 2019.

After rejecting offers from Manchester United, PSG and Manchester City, the Dutch midfielder made the move to Barcelona for a deal worth €86m, with high hopes of taking his world-class status to the next level.

While De Jong has been a reliable performer at Camp Nou, and boasts an impressive trophy haul, he hasn’t quite reached the levels many expected of him when he broke through at Ajax.

4. Neymar - €88m (from Santos, 2013)

Although the manner of Neymar’s move to Barcelona from Santos eventually led to the club and vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu being charged with tax fraud, it’s safe to say the player’s transfer fee of €88m was repaid comfortably by the Brazilian's on-field performances.

Neymar needed time to adapt to European football in his first season, but he was at his very best by the 2014-15 campaign as he scored 39 goals in 51 games as Barca claimed a continental treble.

In total, Neymar netted 105 goals and provided 76 assists in just 186 games for the Spanish giants, winning eight major titles before earning his club a remarkable profit with a €222m move to PSG in August 2017. That fee remains a word record.

3. Antoine Griezmann - €120m (from Atletico Madrid, 2019)

With Neymar a distant memory, Barcelona went big in their bid to sign a new forward in 2019 and decided Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann was the man for the job, spending €120m on the Frenchman.

Atleti fans defaced Griezmann’s plaque outside their stadium after confirmation of the transfer, but the France legend soon returned to the club on an initial loan deal, which was made permanent in October 2022.

Griezmann ultimately never settled at Barcelona and he only scored 35 goals in 102 appearances for the club before moving back to Atletico.

2. Philippe Coutinho - €135m (from Liverpool, 2018)

After failing to sign Philippe Coutinho during the 2017 summer transfer window, Barcelona went big in January and paid a whopping €135m to lure him away from Liverpool in 2018.

He was seen as a possible long-term heir to both Neymar and Andres Iniesta, but the move was a disaster for all parties as Coutinho failed to have the desired impact at Camp Nou.

The Brazilian even helped knock Barcelona out of the Champions League in 2020 whilst on loan at Bayern Munich. In total, he scored 25 goals in 106 games for the Spanish giants, before making a loan move to Aston Villa permanent in 2022.

1. Ousmane Dembele - €148m (from Borussia Dortmund, 2018)

Barcelona were held to ransom by Borussia Dortmund as they sought a replacement for Neymar and they were ultimately forced to pay an initial €135m for Ousmane Dembele - which rose to €148m when including add-ons.

Dembele arrived having registered 31 goals and assists during his one and only season at Dortmund, but his spell at Camp Nou was severely hindered by a multitude of injury issues.

He showed flashes of promise in Spain, most notably during his first few appearances, but he was ultimately a major flop and he was sold to PSG for €50m in 2023.

The 25 most expensive Barcelona signings of all time

The FootballTransfers app

Check out FootballTransfers' new app for all of football's big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.

The FootballTransfers app is available in the Apple App Store.

Download here:

•App Store