Paulinho, in the club of players better remembered than received

Throughout its history, FC Barcelona has enjoyed some of the greatest football players of all time. No team had three of the five players who are generally considered the greatest legends of the ball, such as Leo Messi, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff, in addition to many other greats from the traditional soccer Olympus. However, the tradition of a club like Barça attracts the interest of all kinds of football players, some who came with great expectations and did not fulfill them and others who were received with a strong debate about their technical standards and that, despite Therefore, more than the time they left a better memory than a performance, either because of their figures or their appearance in some important sporting moments for Culé team. One of them is the midfielder international for Brazil in 56 games, Paulinho Bezerra, who at the age of 36 has announced that he has hung up his boots. There are more players in this 21st century who have left great memories despite coming on tiptoe and MD remembers some of them.

Paulinho (2018-19)

10 goals and 6 assists a year

Paulinho Bezerra arrived at Barça in the 2018-19 season from Guangzhou Evergrande in China for 50 million euros and returned to the same club the following season, 2019-20, for a similar figure. Since he arrived at the club of the culé, the problem of his reconciliation with public opinion at Tottenham, for whom he performed below expectations, was widely remembered. In the moment of truth, with Ernesto Valverde on the bench of Barça, Paulinho played a. many and. above all, contributing something that is not so easy to provide for a midfielder: the goal. As a Barça player, he signed 34 games, with 10 goals and 6 assists.

2

Luuk de Jong

He fulfilled his goal as a ‘desperate’ scorer

The signing of Luuk de Jong was a last-minute recommendation from Ronald Koeman for FC Barcelona 2021-22 following the loss of Antoine Griezmann, back to Atlético de Madrid. The Dutch forward arrived at the Camp Nou under the emotional impact of Leo Messi’s stormy farewell and his arrival did not spark any enthusiasm. On loan from Sevilla FC for one season, the Barça club decided at the end of that loan not to exercise a very affordable purchase option for a classic goalscorer who, playing in dribs and drabs, scored 7 goal while participating in 27 games as a culé , some of them saving points in the last minute, such as against Espanyol, Mallorca or Levante. He ended up returning to PSV for 3 million euros: last season in Eindhoven he scored 38 goals and 18 assists.

3

Pierre Aubameyang

A round business, for the ball and for the box

Pierre Aubameyang is a very particular case, because in his time he was one of the most prestigious finishing forwards in European football. However, when he arrived at Barça his star completely faded at Arsenal. So the Barça club was able to sign him without paying a transfer fee. He arrived at the Camp Nou in January 2022 and halfway through the season the 33-year-old Gabonese attacker scored 13 goals in 24 games, including two in 4 against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu, an important contribution to confirm the qualification of the Barça team. for the group stage of the 2022-23 Champions League. The following summer, Barça covered part of the signing of Robert Lewandowski by selling Auba to Chelsea, who paid 12 million euros. For Barça it is, therefore, a great deal, for the ball and for the economic benefit.

4

Frank Kessie

A goal in the League against Madrid and a good sale

If a footballer is measured by his performance based on his price, signing Franck Kessie is a success for Barça. The Ivory Coast midfielder who signed
in the summer of 2022 at zero cost after ending his contract with a Milan team that won the ‘scudetto’ with him as a starter eleven seasons later, he repeated his yield at FC Barcelona in his only season as a culé. Their competition in the 2022-23 academic year resulted in the Spanish Super Cup title and the victory in the Liga, with insurmountable ‘highlights’ in that conquest such as the decisive goal in the last minute in the Clásico at the Camp Nou, which His eliminated merengue’s limited chance of winning. Kessié, christened as ‘the president in Milan, scored 3 goals and 3 assists in 43 games as a Barça player and, in addition, he brought the club a net income of 12.5 million euros thanks to his sale to Saudi Al-Ahli in 2023.

5

Ibrahim Afellay

A boarding school with an everlasting legacy

Ibrahim Afellay is one of those examples that football gives from time to time that will be remembered forever for a moment of inspiration. It’s not that the Dutch international midfielder isn’t a good player. He arrived at Barça in January 2011 when he was captain of PSV for just 3 million euros, as his contract was due to expire in June of that year. His time in what is still remembered today as the team that played the best football of all time was not as participatory as he would have liked, but at least he left a decisive game that will be remembered forever in Barcelona fans: his challenge against Marcelo in the Madrid-Barça semi-final of the 2010-11 Champions League, which Leo Messi finished off in a crucial match to conquer that ‘orejona’. Afellay, now 38 years old and retiring from football in 2021, was the protagonist of a series of transfers until he finally left Barça in 2015 to play for Stoke City and, finally, hung up his boots to PSV. Just because of the challenge won against the Madrid full-back, Marcelo will live forever in Barça history.

6

Juliano Belletti

A goal like a culé, but what a goal!

Iuliano Belletti is the clearest example of a footballer who secured a chapter in the great history of a club by being at the right time and in the right place. The Brazilian full-back was the scorer of Barça’s second goal in the 2006 Champions League final against Arsenal, which ended the Barça team’s reaction in Paris after Samuel Eto’o’s momentous equaliser. It was, surprisingly, Belletti’s only goal as a culé, but what a goal! Belletti arrived at Barça in 2004 after a spell at Villarreal, until 2007 when he went to Chelsea. However, that goal in the middle of the storm in Paris gave him a good place in the memory of the culé. Now, at 48 years old, Belletti is part of the club’s technical staff, as coach of the youth A team.

7

Edgar Davids

The mechanical ‘click’ that sets the holy circle

Ronaldinho Gaúcho was the banner of Barça’s passion that in 2003 began a period that turned out to be magnificent. However, despite the brilliance of the Brazilian genius, Frank Rijkaard’s team is missing a mechanical piece that will make the so-called “virtuous circle” work. That piece is named after Edgar Davids. The Dutch midfielder was marginalized at Juventus and Barça achieved a loan in the market that allowed him to regain the great prestige of the Dutchman at the Camp Nou in the second half of the 2003-04 League. Davids gave Barça the consistency that allowed them to cut Real Madrid as high as 18 points halfway through the season, finishing second in the Liga. Although he did not continue at Barcelona, ​​​​​​​​Davids managed to sign for Inter and over the years he was part of the Barça Legends. His immediate performance as a culé is such that now, when people talk about signing in the winter, they still talk about “bringing a Davids.”