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Barcelona right-back Dani Alves (L) celebrates scoring with his Brazil international team-mate and fellow signing from Sevilla Adriano during the soccer test match between Hamburger SV and FC Barcelona at Imtech Arena in Hamburg, Germany, 24 July 2012

Kounde next: Ranking all 15 players Barcelona have signed from Sevilla

Nestor Watach •

Jules Kounde has taken the well-trodden path from Sevilla to Barcelona, and he follows in the footsteps of some brilliant players.

Barcelona have now signed 16 players from their La Liga rivals. They’ve had some great success following that strategy over the years, but not every player that’s moved from Sevilla has turned out to be brilliant at the Camp Nou.

We’ve ranked each and every one of Barcelona’s signings from Sevilla.

15. Tibor Szalay

Little is known about the Hungarian winger, who made over 70 appearances for Sevilla in the late 50s before moving to Barcelona in 1961.

Records show he scored a very respectable three goals from just six appearances, but he was swiftly moved on to Real Murcia.

14. Aleix Vidal

In hindsight, right-back Vidal was an early indication that Barcelona in the Josep Maria Bartomeu era weren’t exactly the most efficiently run ship.

After just 30 La Liga appearances in three years at the Camp Nou, he was sold back to Sevilla in 2018 – at a loss, obviously.

READ: The £320million losses Barcelona have made on 15 sales since 2017

13. Julian Rubio

Better known for a long stint at Sevilla, having made over 150 appearances between 1972 and 1979, midfield man Rubio only made 18 appearances for Barcelona.

He suffered a serious knee injury and was only ever really on the periphery of the squad, behind players like Juan Manuel Asensi, Jesus Landaburu and Bernd Schuster in the pecking order.

12. Angel Oliveros

A Sevilla Under-19 academy graduate in the late 50s, Oliveros went on to play for the Rojiblancos for six years. He spent just one season at Barcelona, 1967-68, but did win the Copa del Rey – although he didn’t feature in the famous 1-0 victory over Real Madrid in the final.

11. Luuk de Jong

It was always pretty obvious that De Jong wasn’t quite up to it at Barcelona, but he gave it his all during his season-long loan from Sevilla and actually won some of the fans around.

He also came up with a couple of big moments, most notably this against Mallorca:

READ: When Barcelona needed a leader, Luuk De Jong became their saviour

10. Jose Padron

The first player to move from Sevilla to Barcelona and the only one on this list from the pre-war period.

Given he made just six appearances for La Blaugrana in the 1930s, purely for his footballing impact we should probably place him lower on this list, but we can’t help but be fascinated by his career.

Padron was a Copa del Rey winner with first club Espanyol, with conflicting match reports at the time saying he either scored or was one of five players sent off in the final against Real Madrid.  He then featured as Spain became the first European side to beat England (4-3) in a match, a friendly in Madrid in 1929, a result that sent shockwaves through the English press and Football Association.

Later on he became a militant for the Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification in Spain, fought for the French Resistance during World War Two and later rejected an invitation to the inauguration of the newly-built Camp Nou, stating: “I will not return while Franco is in power.”

9. Clement Lenglet

The centre-half’s form has fallen off a cliff in recent times, resulting in him being loaned out to Tottenham this season, but there was definitely a player there.

In fact, the £31.7million fee looked good value on first viewing back in 2018. Lenglet went on to make over a hundred appearances in four years, winning the La Liga title in 2018-19 and the Copa del Rey in 2020-21, featuring in a back three in a 4-0 drubbing of Athletic Bilbao in the final.

8. Adriano

Joining Barcelona in 2010 was a great time to arrive. The Brazilian won the Champions League and La Liga during his debut season and went on to add a further seven major honours during his six-year stint, during which he made nearly 200 appearances.

He was never the first name on the teamsheet or a standout individual, but a reliable and versatile member of the squad, who was well-liked under successive managers.

7. Ricardo Serna

The Seville-born defender made over 200 appearances for his boyhood club before becoming one of Johan Cruyff’s first signings at Barcelona in the summer of 1988.

Four years at Barcelona would bring great success as Cruyff built his fabled Dream Team.

Serna won the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1989, the Copa del Rey the following year, and eventually the European Cup in 1992, though he never made his way onto Cruyff’s teamsheet for any of the finals. Serna also won back-to-back La Liga titles in ’91 and ’92 before departing for Deportivo La Coruna.

6. Chus Pereda

Pereda represented seven different clubs in Spain, including as a fringe player of Real Madrid’s European Cup and La Liga-winning 1957-58 side, but he enjoyed by far his longest and most successful stint at Barcelona, his spell spanning almost the entire 1960s after moving from the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan in the summer of ’61.

He made 293 appearances and scored 104 goals, and won the 1966 Fairs Cup and Copa del Rey twice, back when it was known as the Copa del Generalisimo, scoring in the 1963 final victory against Real Zaragoza.

On the international stage, he played a key role in Spain’s 1964 European Championship triumph, scoring in the final against the Soviet Union and winning the Golden Boot and being named in the team of the tournament.

5. Gallego

Gallego only ever played for two clubs, Sevilla and Barcelona. The centre-back started out at Sevilla, moved to Barcelona in 1965, and returned south to see out his final years a decade later.

During his ten-year spell at the Camp Nou, Gallego won two Fairs Cups and two Copa del Rey, marshalling the backline superbly in the 1-0 final victory over Real Madrid in 1968. He also eventually won the La Liga title in 1973-74 – Barcelona’s first in 14 years.

4. Nando Munoz

The Seville-born centre-back only spent two seasons at Barcelona but enjoyed great success, winning back-to-back league titles between 1990 and 1992, and featuring alongside Ronald Koeman and Albert Ferrer as Cruyff’s Dream Team beat Sampdoria in the unforgettable 1992 European Cup final.

He made a controversial move to Real Madrid soon after, and enjoyed some success in the capital, but his career peak undoubtedly came at Camp Nou.

3. Seydou Keita

Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets will forever be the midfield trio that are associated with Pep Guardiola’s era-defining side, but Keita shouldn’t be forgotten or taken for granted.

He’d only spent a year at Sevilla after moving from Lens, but made such an impression that Barcelona quickly acted to sign him for a €14million fee the same summer Guardiola was made head coach.

Only five players made more appearances for Guardiola’s Barcelona than the Mali international, who was never anything less than steady and dependable when appearing for arguably the greatest club side in history.

2. Ivan Rakitic

The Croatian was a different type of profile to the man he was replacing in Barcelona’s midfield, Cesc Fabregas, but something different was exactly what the club needed when they signed him in 2014.

Rakitic had already shown his winning credentials as one of Sevilla’s outstanding players in their 2013-14 Europa League win and never looked back from there.

He displaced an ageing Xavi in Barcelona’s midfield and won the treble in his first season at the club. He scored the opener in the 2015 Champions League victory over Juventus and added another six major titles in the next five years.

1. Dani Alves

Not just Barcelona’s best signing from Sevilla, but one of the greatest signings any club anywhere has ever made.

The Brazilian had already shown his credentials as a born winner at Sevilla by lifting the Copa del Rey and back-to-back UEFA Cups, but few could predict the success he’d enjoy during his first stint at Camp Nou.

In eight years at Barcelona, Alves won six La Liga titles, four Copa del Rey, three Champions Leagues and much more. He cost approximately €30million and was well worth it just for the sheer joy he brought to the Camp Nou pitch.

Dani Alves and Lionel Messi celebrate after scoring for Barcelona against Roma in the Champions League at Camp Nou. 24th November, 2015

READ: An ode to Dani Alves’ mind-blowing connection with Messi at Barcelona

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