The summer of 2014 was a big one at Barcelona. It was the first of Josep Maria Bartomeu’s ill-fated presidency, and the club was still reeling from being pipped to the La Liga title by Atletico Madrid.
The response was to spend over €160million in the transfer market, with almost half of that outlay on a club-record signing, Luis Suarez.
The Uruguayan had just produced one of the great individual Premier League seasons at Liverpool but was banned by FIFA from any football-related activity for four months after biting Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.
Luis Enrique was newly-appointed as manager, and after a slow start, Suarez eventually came into the team and helped inspire the side to the treble. Here’s how their six other signings that summer fared.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen
Ter Stegen had made over 100 appearances for his boyhood club Borussia Monchengladbach and had a reputation as a rising star when Barcelona signed him as a 22-year-old in 2014.
He had to be patient for opportunities, with Claudio Bravo entrusted with the gloves in La Liga, but the young German was given opportunities in the cups, featuring throughout the Copa del Rey and Champions League parts of their treble in his debut season.
In 2016 he became Barcelona’s first choice and he didn’t look back, becoming one of the club’s standout performers as they won league titles in 2016, 2018 and 2019.
Ivan Rakitic
A decade ago, La Masia golden boy Thiago Alcantara and returning prodigal son Cesc Fabregas were talked up as the natural long-term heirs to Xavi Hernandez.
But by the summer of 2014, Thiago had left to reunite with Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich, and Fabregas had left after three years back at his hometown club that hadn’t quite gone as planned, departing Camp Nou to join forces with former arch-enemy Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.
Xavi remained at Barcelona, but Spain’s shock group-stage exit from the 2014 World Cup told you that his magic was finally fading.
The legendary midfielder stepped back to play a more backseat role during his final season at the club, and the man who stepped into his place in midfield alongside Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta was not a Catalan, but a Croatian, with no Cruyffist DNA.
Yet Rakitic offered Barcelona exactly what they needed at that time, and played a crucial, often-underappreciated role, offering more energy and selfless running to give some much-needed balance to a side that could so easily have been too top-heavy with Messi,…
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