Where are they now? The 10 players Barcelona sold alongside Luis Suarez in 2020
The summer of 2020 was a big one for Barcelona. The proverbial had hit the fan, with financial woes coming to the fore during the latter days of Josep Maria Bartomeu’s disastrous reign as president.
Luis Suarez was among 11 senior players that left the club. That did not please his best mate Lionel Messi, who fumed on social media, writing: “You deserved to depart for who you are: one of the most important players in the club’s history, winning things as part of a group and individually. Not for them to kick you out as they have done. But the truth is nothing surprises me anymore.”
The Uruguayan striker went on to fire Atletico Madrid to the La Liga title at Barca’s expense, and is now happily reunited with Messi out in the Miami sunshine. But what became of the others that left the club during that transfer window? We’ve taken a look at where they all are today.
Arthur Melo
Here’s a transfer that can be seen as pretty revolutionary. Not because Arthur was in any way a revelatory footballer – that ‘what does he actually do?’ quality didn’t see the Brazilian pull up any trees at Juventus. No, think of it as football financing equivalent of the Velvet Underground.
Sold for an official fee of €80million, Arthur is still Barcelona’s second most expensive departure after Neymar. But by the same token, the €60million spent on Miralem Pjanic puts the Bosnian in their top 10 record transfers.
Neither player was worth anywhere near that, of course, but massively inflating the fees in what was essentially a swap deal was mutually beneficial for convoluted sustainable accounting purposes.
Fast forward four years and we’re now seeing clubs regularly flog players you’ve barely heard of for crazy fees to get around Profit and Sustainability rules.
What’s Arthur up to these days, you ask? Well, who could forget that one 13-minute cameo during an entire season on loan at Liverpool? He remains on the Old Lady’s books, but fared considerably better on loan at Fiorentina last term.
Nelson Semedo
The Portuguese full-back’s absolute nightmare up against Alphonso Davies in Barca’s infamous 8-2 shellacking at the hands of Bayern Munich turned out to be one of his final appearances for the club. The Barca hierarchy had evidently seen enough.
To Semedo’s credit, he’s kicked on and forged a respectable career since moving to Wolves. The 30-year-old remains at Molineux, has 131 largely decent Premier League appearances under his belt, and continues to be linked to top European clubs after featuring for Portugal at Euro 2020.
Carles Perez
The Catalan-born La Masia graduate progressed from Barca B to play a fringe role in the first team, amounting to 12 appearances in the 2019-20 campaign.
But in the latter half of that season, the winger was loaned out to Roma, with an obligation to buy in the summer.
Perez played over 50 games for the Giallorossi, but the vast majority were as a substitute. Only after moving to Celta Vigo in 2020 did he finally start matches regularly, although he once again dropped back to a benchwarmer last term.
Marc Cucurella
Another homegrown academy player, Cucurella was a regular in the B Team but his first-team experience amounted to one substitute appearance in the Copa del Rey.
After doing well out on loan at Getafe, he joined the club on a permanent deal in 2020. The following summer he was picked up by Brighton for a small fee, and only a year later he was sold out for a massive profit to Chelsea.
The left-back has had his struggles at Stamford Bridge over the last couple of years, but he had one in the eye for his doubters with a series of fine performances in Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph, including getting the assist for Mikel Oyarzabal’s late match-winner.
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Abel Ruiz
Another made in La Masia, Ruiz’s transfer to Braga in 2020 went a little under the radar. But the forward has quietly done well out in Portugal, playing over a hundred games for the club.
He’s just returned to Catalonia after signing for upstarts Girona. Watch him playing in the Champions League in 2024-25.
Jorge Cuenca
Much more of a Barca B man than a first-teamer, Cuenca only made one senior cup appearance before being sold to Villarreal in 2020.
The centre-back featured regularly for the Yellow Submarine last season, having returned to nail down a spot after loans away to Ameria and Getafe.
Ivan Rakitic
Arguably one of the most underrated players of his generation, the midfielder displaced the great Xavi Hernandez in Luis Enrique’s first-choice XI as Barca claimed a second historic treble in 2014-15.
He played over 300 games for La Blaugrana and went on to win a further three La Liga titles and three Copa del Rey, his selfless work in the midfield engine room proving pivotal in getting the best out of the likes of Messi and Suarez ahead of him.
After a romantic return to Sevilla, which saw him lift a second Europa League trophy with the club in 2022-23, he made a money-spinning move to Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Shabab.
But his time in Saudi Arabia proved short-lived and he’s since joined Hajduk Split. Interestly, despite being a Croatia stalwart with over a hundred caps to his name, next season will be the first time he’s played in the country. He was born in Switzerland, represented them at youth level, and came up through FC Basel’s academy.
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Rafinha
Not to be confused with their current Brazilian star, or the ex-Bayern full-back, this Rafinha is the younger brother of Thiago.
The midfielder spent nine years on Barca’s books, but only ever intermittently enjoyed a regular run of starts amid regular loans away. He eventually left for good in October 2020, signing a three-year deal with PSG, but he also found gametime difficult to come by in the French capital.
Since 2020, he’s turned out for Qatar Stars League outfit Al-Arabi.
Arturo Vidal
Part of Chile’s back-to-back Copa America-winning golden generation, Vidal represented Juventus, Bayern, Barcelona and Inter during his peak years in Europe. Inevitably, the mohawked midfielder boasts a hell of an individual trophy cabinet.
He won the Scudetto with Antonio Conte’s Inter after leaving Barca in 2020. After two years at the San Siro, he returned to South America, signing for Brazilian giants Flamengo – where he won the Copa Libertadores.
Earlier this year, aged 37, he returned to boyhood club Colo-Colo. Bet the house on him lifting more trophies back home. It’s just what he does.
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Arda Turan
The hotheaded Turkish winger never came close to replicating his best Atletico Madrid form during five perplexing years on Barca’s books.
He signed for Super Lig giants Galatasaray on a free transfer on 2020 and was immediately made the club’s captain, although he failed to lift any silverware in his second stint with his hometown club before hanging up his boots in 2022.
Nowadays he’s serving the manager of Eyupsor. Disappointingly enough, despite what it sounds like, the Eyup district of Istanbul isn’t an enclave of Yorkshire.