When Barcelona received a crazy £200 million from Paris Saint-Germain for Neymar in the summer, they must have been wondering how on earth they were going to spend it.

However, the Catalan club haven’t had any trouble in doing so.

Within weeks, they had spent all of that money on Ousmane Dembele, Paulinho, Nelson Semedo and Gerard Deulofeu.

And Barca certainly haven’t missed Neymar this season.

They could go nine points clear in La Liga this afternoon and are through to the last-16 of the Champions League, where they face Chelsea.

And within days of the January transfer window opening, they’ve strengthened even further in the form of Philippe Coutinho.

The Catalan club have splashed out a further £142 million - the second highest transfer fee in history - to sign the Brazilian despite the fact he’ll be ineligible in the Champions League.

With Barca winning just the Copa del Rey last season, it seems they’re hellbent on competing on all three fronts this time around.

While you can’t blame them for wanting to improve on a disappointing campaign, the comments of a certain Gerard Pique are looking increasingly awkward.

There was once a time when Barca didn’t really need to spend a penny.

The likes of Pique, Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta all progressed through the famed La Masia and straight into the first-team meaning there was no need for big-money signings.

And in 2013, Pique decided he would poke fun at the spending of rivals Real Madrid after they suffered an underwhelming campaign of their own.

“Real Madrid had a year without winning titles and spend €160million on three players – Illaramendi, Isco and Gareth Bale,” Pique said.

“Barcelona doesn’t have to do this. We know we are different because we can compete with them without spending that money.”

Well, this is awkward.

This season, Real Madrid have actually made a big profit in the transfer market having sold the likes of Alvaro Morata and Danilo. Meanwhile, they’ve only added Theo Hernandez and Dani Ceballos.

Whereas Barca's spending shows no signs of abating.

How times have changed…