Barcelona Football Club was the subject of many humorous one-liners over the course of the 2022 summer transfer window as the football community tried to make sense of the goings-on at one of the most famous institutions in all of sport. Indeed, the world of football looked on utterly astounded as the club, arguably the most in debt in any league globally, continued to miraculously hoover up the game’s best talent.

Incredibly, some of the world’s most coveted players arrived one after the other at the Nou Camp following the conclusion of last season. First, there was Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich and Raphinha from Leeds United. Tellingly, Raphinha could have taken his pick from any Premier League club but ended up turning Arsenal and Chelsea down, despite the pair being among the favorites in the latest Premier League betting odds to win England’s top flight. In particular, Arsenal, who are at +1000, was the club in England that came closest to singing Raphinha only for the Brazilian’s agent to intervene at the eleventh hour and ask his client to wait until Barcelona found the money to bring him to the Nou Camp.

Needless to say, this request was ridiculed by the onlooking football world owing to Barcelona’s crippling financial situation. However, as sure as night follows day, the Catalans found a way to raise over £50 million for Raphinha, and just like that, the club had assembled one of the best squads in Europe for the upcoming season.

Naturally, the question is what cost has this summer spending spree come at in the long run? According to Barcelona, the club has had the means after pulling various economic levers throughout the off-season which has enabled them to fund their extravagant splurge during this transfer window. It’s typically quite a vague explanation but ultimately involves selling off TV rights as well as a stake in their licensing and merchandising operation. It’s not quite the family silver but at the same time, the club has agreed to forgo large future profits in order to fund the here and now. Yes, it feels desperate, somewhat ill-advised, and not entirely conventional, but as of mid-September, there is legitime evidence to suggest that this gamble has paid off.

Indeed, Xavi’s team is comfortably keeping pace with Real Madrid at the top of La Liga and has enjoyed an emphatic return to the Champions League having beaten Viktoria Plzen 5-1. Admittedly, the Czech opponents are seen to be the whipping boys of Group C but to Barcelona’s credit, that’s exactly what they did. In addition to their fruitful Champions League start, the club has scored three or more goals in all but one of their La Liga fixtures so far this season. Yes, it’s still relatively early days in the 2022/2023 campaign but this newly remodeled Barcelona team looks to have an insatiable appetite for scoring.

This will undoubtedly please Barcelona’s hierarchy who, when all is said and done, put the club’s future on the line by rubber-stamping a summer spree that could have led to potentially catastrophic consequences down the line.

You could argue that it may still do and yes, that is a reality and will be until this team helps the club top up the bank balance by winning one of Europe’s biggest trophies. In current form, however, they look more than capable of doing that

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