Midfield- I am going to chunk the 3 positions into one post for my worst 3 central midfielders that ever put on a Barcelona jersey. Before the riches that current Barcelona side has in terms of a central midfield, we also had a period where many came with huge names and prices only to fail tremendously. Its even admirable to know how bad Barcelona management is when it comes to fortifying 2 of the 3 spots as one spot was guaranteed to either Cocu or Xavi. Joan Gaspart had made his name by being the first to implement his Barcelona project of assembling "young talent" at exuberant prices on the reports from our South American scout (I am glad that I dont know who he is otherwise he would be getting Overbo style death letters threats). One of these recommendations was none other than Fabio Rochemback. Costing Barcelona a cool sum of 9m euros, he was supposed to replace Guardiola and was labelled as the next "Emerson." But he crumbled under pressure each time, he got onto the pitch. He further onwards started developing a liking for cards and unprofessional attitude. He played 45 games for us but I cant remember one game where he left his mark on the pitch and not in the referee's book. Never recovering from his hype, he has continued a downward trend in his career by now playing at Gremio.
During the same time, we also had another "gem" from the South America who turned out to be a massive pain in the ass for Louis Van Gaal, Juan Roman Riquelme. Riquelme was a signing that Gaspart made for 11m euros without consulting Van Gaal and damn, did it hurt the Dutchman's ego. Truth be told, Riquelme had no place in the team of 02/03 with Cocu and the emergence of Xavi in the previous season however Gaspart wanted something to please the fans after his failures in the first two years. Van Gaal knew Riquelme didnt fit the system and when he played him, it was on the left hand flank where Riquelme's pace meant that he was a bystander. He continued to be a bystander for many games and collected a huge pay check. Riquelme wanted the team to be built around him and when that didnt happen, he went directly to the media. All in all, he was a waste in the Barcelona jersey but one man's trash is another's treasure. He was shipped to Villarreal where he excelled and we recouped our money. Thank God for that.
One player that I wished that we recouped our money for was- Gerard Lopez. FC Barcelona has a major achilles heel when it comes to cantera players who were let go, only to see them succeed overwhemingly at other clubs. It almost becomes an obsession for the management to get back the kids that we lost because they didnt believe in them. Gerard Lopez was one of them who left Barcelona Athletic (then Barca B) to go to the greener pastures of Valencia. He became an inspired signing for Valencia as he became a vital cog in Hector Cuper' side of 99/00 by winning Spanish Super Cup and then, coming second in the Champions Leagure. Barcelona couldnt contain its lust anymore and splashed a whopping 21.5m euros to get their gem and a massive salary, only for him to alternate his years at Barcelona between the bench and the treatment table for 4 years that he spent here. It was between him, Demetrio Albertini and Thiago Motta that I had to make a decision for who was the worst, and fiscally speaking, Gerard was absolutely horrendous.
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