Lol. Madrid also signed Jovic and Hazard not long ago. Cherrypicking the hits and airbrushing the misses I see. They have a good rate between hits and misses, but nothing unseen or spectacular. It's just that Barto had a disastrous one, without the doubt the worst spending spree in the history of football. Nothing else comes even close when you see not only the fees but also the wages paid for these flops.
Laporta left the best team in the world when he left, with one major rebuilt done expertly in 2003-04. And another partial rebuild in 2008/09, also done brilliantly (basically Pique, Busi, Dani Alves, Yaya, Mascherano not much later, Pedro not much later, Henry, and others too like Keita, Adriano who were good players).
During this period, we sold and got rid of a number of superstars who had their day at Barca and were starting to stink up the place. If Bartomeu was in Laporta's shoes, he not only keeps Ronaldinho and Deco, but he gives them huge money. And we get Amigo Barca back in 2008-09, 10 years sooner, and probably takes away Messi's best years as a result.
By comparison, Bartomeu never did any actual rebuild (look at the managers he appointed lol, puppets that could keep the stars pampered and happy). He relied on the same team core in his CL win in 2015, with Pique, Busi, Mascherano, Dani Alves, Iniesta, and Messi + 2 galactico signings that worked (Neymar briefly as he left us at his peak). When Neymar left Bartomeu imploded because the man had no idea how to build a successful club other than spending huge money (that the club could not afford as it turned out) over and over again and praying.
I would have liked to see the current Barca board having the funds to sign players the way the other top teams do. Oh... no... Raphinha is 60m.
Don't you see many top teams are after him? Bayern, Liverpool, and Chelsea are or were heavily linked with him. 3 of the last 4 CL winners. That's the money you have to pay to sign very good players these days.
