That's the problem, in the past we had everything, (1) fame, (2) great chances to win silverware and (3) money (best wages in the industry) but now the last two are pretty much gone for a while and players we want such as Haaland and even Adeyemi fall into either category (a) or (b) but not (c). If we believe those rumors, we are facing competition to retain our own players such as Araujo and Gavi, precisely because of the lack of (2) and (3).
We are not Dortmund and there are pros and cons to that. Players join Dortmund because of the chances to play and shine to have that visibility before they take another step up to join a bigger club, few non-German players joined them with the goal to stay there for long-term. If we are competing with Dortmund on players falling into category (c), they know they won't leave easily and the only step might a downward step (can't go to Madrid from here and probably don't go to elite EPL clubs, judging from our transfer history) so they might be hesitant to join us. And with our precarious financial situation, we might not even match what Dortmund pays (that is what was reported on Adeyemi, that Dortmund offers him more attractive wages than us).
For short-term goals such as qualifying for the CL we will need more experienced and more established players. For long-term goals of rebuilding ourselves and bringing ourselves back to being title contenders in Spain and Europe then we should be looking at those players that Dortmund is scouting and targeting, yes. The only problem is, given our history, selling clubs will likely charge us more than they would have charged Dortmund.
Pedri and Fati extended, so will Gavi and Nico. And even Araujo I am pretty confident about. If we start losing La Masia talents to those rich sugar daddy clubs from EPL then that will be very bad news, but so far hasn't happened to be fair.
Adeyemi is not premier talent like Mbappe that will play in any club from day one, this is why he fancies Dortmund as a move. But a Barca that can give you the same conditions to play like Dortmund is a step up. Bayern, City, Liverpool, are all stacked upfront, so they won't offer him the same opportunities.
So if Bayern and City and Liverpool get him, will he play in front of Salah, Mane, Bernardo, Jota, Gnabri, Sane etc very soon? No. At Barcelona, he will, because his direct competition is about to go for free, and the next in line are some raw kids.
We are similar to the position of Liverpool in 2016-2017. Huge club with a new promising project, young stars, and plenty of room to play in. In a way, it's not that bad that we can't throw huge money to sign players, because we will avoid money-whore players, we will put more effort into scouting rather than being lazy and mostly following the big names, and will have bigger chances to get guys who really prioritize their careers rather than getting rich very fast (you still get rich if you prioritize your career and winning titles mind you).
This means we'll not be very attractive for Galactico players for a good while. But we will be able to land the same profile of players that Liverpool signed in 2016, 2017. Liverpool signed most of their core players from which type of clubs? Southampton, AS Roma, Wolverhampton, Schalke, Arsenal, Monaco, etc.
See the pattern? Not a single signing from a club in direct competition with them. Didn't chase players from Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, etc, because they knew players who make CL semis in the present, won't give up that position and that money for a relatively incipient project. On the contrary, they lost players like Suarez and Coutinho to these teams.
The point is, hungry quality players from lower-level clubs will jump at the chance to take the next step and Barca can be a top destination these days. One of the few tier 1 clubs that is not very stacked upfront. A lot will also depend on Xavi to get us playing well and start sending the message, that the buffoonery is done with and we're on the right track to come back.
I suppose both are true.
