Barcelona have made some shrewd sales this century, even if it's not all been good business for the Catalans
Barcelona have mainly been making headlines for their lavish spending over the course of the last few seasons, but they have managed to earn plenty of cash as well.
That was not necessarily always by choice, though.
There was the infamous departure of Luis Figo to Real Madrid at the start of the century, which did not go down particularly well at Camp Nou.
And then there was Neymar's "betrayal" in 2017, which quite possibly caused an even bigger uproar.
More recently, they offloaded Arthur to Juventus in a deal that can only be described as a bit of creative accounting, before selling Philippe Coutinho at a significant loss just to get him off the books.
Still, it's earned them a nice bit of change over the course of the 21st century!
Barcelona most expensive sales by season
Season
Biggest sale
Fee
Total sales
2022/23
Philippe Coutinho
€20M/£18M
€35M/£31.50M
2021/22
Emerson Royal
€25M/£22.50M
€70.55M/£63.50M
2020/21
Arthur Melo
€76M/£68.40M
€112M/£100.80M
2019/20
Malcom
€40M/£36M
€152.90M/£137.61M
2018/19
Paulinho
€42M/£37.80M
€146.05M/£131.45M
2017/18
Neymar
€222M/£199.80M
€232.50M/£209.25M
2016/17
Claudio Bravo
€18M/£16.20M
€33.80M/£30.42M
2015/16
Pedro
€27M/£24.30M
€38.30M/£34.47M
2014/15
Alexis Sanchez
€42.50M/£38.25M
€81.80M/£73.62M
2013/14
Thiago
€25M/£22.50M
€28.10M/£25.29M
2012/13
Ibrahim Afellay
€500,000/£450,000
€500,000/£450,000
2011/12
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
€24M/£21.60M
€46.95M/£42.26M
2010/11
Yaya Toure
€30M/£27M
€52.70M/£47.43M
2009/10
Samuel Eto'o
€20M/£18M
€113.50M/£102.15M
2008/09
Ronaldinho
€24.15M/£21.74M
€54.59M/£49.13M
2007/08
Juliano Belletti
€5.50M/£4.95M
€14M/£12.60M
2006/07
Mark van Bommel
€6M/£5.40M
€13.20M/£11.88M
2005/06
Juan Roman Riquelme
€8M/£7.20M
€11M/£9.90M
2004/05
Luis Garcia
€8.75M/£7.88M
€14.75M/£13.28M
2003/04
Fabio Rochemback
€2.50M/£2.25M
€43.85M/£39.47M
2002/03
Mikel Arteta
€7.90M/£7.11M
€11.55M/£10.40M
2001/02
Simao
€12.91M/£11.62M
€37.31M/£33.58M
2000/01
Luis Figo
€60M/£54M
€74.80M/£67.32M
TOTAL
€1.42b/£1.28b
*All figures are taken from Transfermarkt unless stated otherwise.
FC Barcelona top 10 most expensive player salesEverton10Yerry Mina | €30.25 million/£27.23 million | Everton | 2018
Barcelona signed Yerry Mina from Palmeiras for €12.40 million (£11.16 million) in January 2018, but the centre-back failed to make an impact at the club.
He made just six appearances in all competitions amid tough competition in defence and was eventually offloaded to Everton for a decent profit just seven months into his Barcelona career for €30.25m (£27.23m).
Advertisement9Nelson Semedo | €32 million/£28.80 million | Wolves | 2020
Barcelona dived into the transfer market in the summer of 2017 in order to strengthen their right-back position, leading them to Benfica star Nelson Semedo.
The Catalan giants had to pay a fee of €35.70 million (£32.13 million) in order to sign the Portugal international.
Semedo made 124 appearances for Barcelona in all competitions over his three-year spell at the club, before being sold to Premier League side Wolves in the summer of 2020 for €32 million (£28.80 million).
Getty Images8Cesc Fabregas | €33 million/£29.70 million | Chelsea | 2014
Cesc Fabregas forced a move to his boyhood club Barcelona from Arsenal back in 2011, with the Catalans paying €34 million (£30.60 million) to bring him back home.
His time at Barcelona was quite successful as he made 151 appearances, scoring 42 goals and providing 50 assists over his five seasons at the club.
With tremendous competition in Barcelona's midfield, Fabregas was eventually sold to Chelsea in the summer of 2014 for €33m (£29.70m).
Getty7Jasper Cillessen | €35 million/£31.50 million | Valencia | 2019
Barcelona were in need of a back-up goalkeeper in the summer of 2016 when they brought in Jasper Cillessen from Ajax for €13 million (£11.70 million).
During his three seasons at the club, Cillessen largely played the role of understudy to Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, making just 32 appearances, conceding 25 goals and keeping 14 clean sheets.
In the summer of 2019, Barcelona parted ways with the Dutchman for a huge premium for a goalkeeper when Valencia agreed to pay €35m (£31.50m) for his services.