Barcelona may not have Lionel Messi but club are on up after replacing Martin Braithwaite, Luuk De Jong and Memphis Depay with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ferran Torres and Adama Traore

For a club supposedly in financial disarray, it’s been quite the January transfer window for Barcelona.

The LaLiga side have signed three attackers this window as manager Xavi Hernandez starts to rebuild the club with the players he wants.

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First it was Ferran Torres, who sealed a £45million switch from Manchester City before the window had even opened.

Adama Traore then followed his compatriot through the Camp Nou door last weekend, returning to the club he began his career at from Wolves on loan.

And finally, the Blaugrana put the icing on the cake of a new-look attack by signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has found himself frozen out at Arsenal.

It’s quite the turn of events for Barcelona, who were in a fully blown crisis little over four months ago.

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Their greatest ever player, Lionel Messi, had to leave the club for PSG due the financial mess they are in.

And since the departure of their club legend, their season has been nothing short of a shambles, with their front three being Martin Braithwaite, Luuk de Jong and Memphis Depay.

All three played in England and all had limited success.

Indeed, between them they played 105 games in all competitions here, but managed just 16 goals between them – De Jong infamously getting none during his 12-match spell at Newcastle.

Barca now find themselves 15 points behind their bitter rivals Real Madrid, sitting in fifth place after 21 matches this season.

Nevertheless, Xavi now has three players he has pinpointed himself to begin to challenge for LaLiga supremacy again.

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Torres, who spent just 18 months at City, has undoubted quality.

He will surely be a better option on the flanks than Braithwaite.

De Jong, who joined on loan from Sevilla as a transfer perhaps symbolic of Ronald Koeman’s disastrous reign at Camp Nou, will now be replaced by a proven goal-scorer in Aubameyang.

With nearly 300 career goals to his name, the statement signing of the Arsenal forward might be exactly what the player, and indeed, Barcelona, need to challenge again.

And finally, Depay will also be given competition in the shape of Traore.

The Spaniard, 26, is a phenomenal talent, and if he just improved on his end product, could be one of Europe’s top players.

Football can change quickly and while Barcelona looked to be at the pit of their decline in August 2021, things are now looking a lot more rosy.

They have a club legend at the wheel and a new look attack that could give him what he needs to kick-start a great run of form in the second half of the season.

Only time will tell how it all pans out.

Barcelona’s front-three through the years

• Messi, Eto’o, Ronaldinho
• Messi Eto’o, Henry
• Messi, Ibrahimovic, Henry
• Messi, Villa, Pedro
• Messi, Suarez, Neymar
• Messi, Suarez, Coutinho
• Messi, Suarez, Griezmann
• Messi, Braithwaite, Griezmann
• Braithwaite, De Jong, Depay