Barcelona went from being a star team to being a mid-table team

The 2014-15 season is a season never to be forgotten in the history of FC Barcelona. The Catalan club not only dominated Spain but also the whole of Europe. When the final whistle blew at the Berlin Stadium on June 6, 2015, Barcelona had defeated Juventus to lift the UEFA Champions League trophy. They also completed the treble (La Liga, Copa del Rey & UEFA Champions League) for the second time in their history, the only European club to achieve this feat to date. 

Their 2015 success was predicated on the brilliance and ruthlessness of their star forward trio; Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar (MSN). Between them, the 3 forwards scored an astonishing 122 goals in all competitions. Led by the ingenuity of Luis Enrique, Barcelona was on top of the world and deservedly so. They were an all-star team by all means.

However, the MSN trident would not last forever and in 2018, Neymar made a world-record move to Paris Saint-Germain in a deal worth £222m. This transfer first made Messi sad that his best pal was allowed to go while an adequate replacement was not acquired to fill his space.  In the aftermath of the Neymar transfer, Barcelona signed Ousmane Dembele and Phillipe Coutinho for huge sums in a bid to replace the Brazilian. 

Transfer miss followed transfer miss, players like Griezmann, Pjanic, Kevin Prince-Boateng, and Samuel Umtiti took their toll on the playing quality of the squad. Scandals like Barcagate, the Neymar signing, the sacking of Ernesto Valverde and the subsequent appointment of Quique Setien rocked the foundations of the club. Funds mismanagement and irresponsibility also culminated in an ongoing financial crisis that saw Lionel Messi leave for free while the club struggles to register new signings. 

In Barcelona's case, years of gross mismanagement, financial impropriety and below-par recruitment has made them become a mid-table club both on the field and off the field.