Barcelona's 25 signings under Josep Maria Bartomeu show why Lionel Messi is unhappy

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By Kat Lucas

Published Feb 11, 2020

Barca's transfer business has been awful in recent years

Barcelona have La Masia to thank for much of their recent success.

Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto and a young Argentine known as Lionel Messi all learned their trade in the club's famous Academy.

It's just as well the Blaugrana have such a pool of talent to choose from when you consider that some of their spending hasn't exactly been astute.

Over the past decade, Barca have spent £1.23 billion on new players, giving them the fourth-highest net spend of any team in Europe.

That ought to encourage their players, which raises the question why Messi is so unhappy with the board.

Since his falling-out with sporting director Eric Abidal last week, numerous reports have discussed the six-time Ballon d'Or winner's fury at how Barcelona have been allowed to decline over the past five years.

It was even claimed he would consider moving to Manchester City because he feared his current employers couldn't offer him the kind of success he hopes to enjoy in his final playing years.

Poor recruitment has undoubtedly been at the heart of the La Liga champions' problems. What was once the best side on the continent by a mile now hasn't won the Champions League since 2015.

Make of this what you will, but current president Josep Maria Bartomeu took the reins in 2014.

His choices in the transfer market have been one of the key missiles aimed at him by his critics, among whom is a disgruntled Messi.

There are even rumours the forward wants him sacked and is threatening to leave if that doesn't happen.

In total, Bartomeu has overseen 25 acquisitions and very few have come off. Barcelona fan Rafael Hernández has ranked them all by whether they are hit or miss and the results are worrying.