About a year ago, I did a video on Pep Guardiola’s last 7 signings as manager of Barcelona. It did pretty woefully, so for some unknown reason I am today doing a video on Pep’s first 7 Barca signings. Given that Guardiola’s only previous managerial experience before getting the top job at the Camp Nou in 2008 was a single season with the club’s reserve team, these are essentially the first 7 signings Pep Guardiola made in management.
Clearly a club like Barcelona is always going to attract top class talent, and ultimately the key to Pep’s success in Catalonia would be getting the best out of players like Xavi, Iniesta and of course Lionel Messi, who were all already at the club. In four seasons with the club, Pep won three La Liga titles, three Spanish Supercups, two Copa del Reys, two Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups and two FIFA Club World Cups. So 14 trophies in total, or an average of 3.5 trophies a season – somewhere between a treble and a quadruple each campaign – which isn’t bad going for your first crack at senior management.
Here are Pep Guardiola’s First 7 Barcelona Signings: Where are they now?
7. Seydou Keita – Retired
An unusual first addition if one were to believe Yaya Toure’s allegations that Pep Guardiola has a problem with African players, Seydou Keita was the Spaniards first signing as Barca boss and was one of the finest African footballers of his generation. Barcelona activated Keita’s €14 million release clause following an impressive debut campaign in La Liga at Sevilla, and in doing so they made him the first Malian footballer to have held a contract with the club. Keita went on to make 188 appearances in four seasons in Catalonia, arriving just as Pep got the Barcelona job and departing the summer in which Guardiola left. He went on to play for Dalian Aerbin, Valencia, Roma and El-Jaish, before retiring in 2017.
6. Gerard Piqué – Barcelona
Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona with the ball during the Liga match between FC Barcelona and Sevilla FC at Camp Nou on October 06, 2019 in Barcelona, Spain.
For a fee of just £5 million, you’d have to say bringing Gerard Pique back to Barcelona was a decent piece of business by Pep Guardiola. In fact, even if he had paid £50 million the move would still look like a smart one now in hindsight. Pique initially left Barca in 2004 to join Manchester United, where he made 13 appearances and won the Champions League in his final season. Pique is still at Barca now, currently in his 12th season, where he has made 504 appearances and has won 28 trophies. That puts him eighth in Barca’s all time appearance charts, and still aged only 32, he’ll most likely trouble the top three of that list at some stage.
5. Pinto – Retired
Jose Manuel Pinto, typically referred to simply as Pinto, was a bit of an eccentric who – whilst only ever a backup at Barca – was said to be an important character behind the scenes and in the dressing room. Pinto was signed by Pep following almost a decade at Celta Vigo, but first team opportunities were always likely to be at a premium with Victor Valdes around. He went on to spend seven seasons with the club, becoming a bit of a cult hero, and registering 90 appearances in all competitions. Pinto retired after leaving Barca in 2014, and has since focussed on his record producing. One of his songs was featured in the movie Fast and Furious 8.
4. Martin Caceres – Fiorentina
Martin Caceres of ACF Fiorentina in action during the Serie A match between ACF Fiorentina and UC Sampdoria at Stadio Artemio Franchi on September 25, 2019 in Florence, Italy.
Despite having been and still being a key man for the Uruguayan national team, centre-back Martin Caceres has spent much of his club career as a bit of a rotation option. A really versatile and athletic defender, Caceres was signed by Pep for €16.5 million, and made just 23 appearances in three years – all in his debut campaign – before joining Sevilla for less than €5 million. Far from Guardiola’s finest recruit then, Caceres did go on to showcase himself as a very capable defender at Juventus, and he returned to Turin for one last season with the Old Lady last season. He was one of nine new additions at Fiorentina this summer, arriving on a free transfer.
3. Dani Alves – São Paulo
Up there with Gerard Pique in the list of all time great Pep Guardiola signings, Dani Alves was an inspired addition at Barcelona in 2008. The full-back didn’t come cheap, commanding a potential £30 million fee subject to add-ons, off the back of several eye-catching seasons at Sevilla. Renowned for his extraordinary athleticism and rampaging forward runs at the time, Alves often faced question marks with regards to his defensive solidity at Barca. He went on to make a mockery of such claims, spending eight scintillating seasons at the club, forming a telepathic relationship with Lionel Messi on the right flank and establishing himself as one of the truly great full-backs of the modern era. Now aged 36, Alves returned to Brazil after 17 years away in the summer, and he’s now playing for Sao Paulo in central midfield.
2. Alexander Hleb – Isloch Minsk Raion
Alexander Hleb of FC Bate Borisow
You could be forgiven for assuming that a 38-year-old Alexander Hleb had retired, but the midfielder is actually still starting games for the Belarus national team and only just signed for a new club in the summer. Following a fifth – yes, fifth – stint with BATE Borisov, Hleb signed for Isloch Minsk Raion this summer, a move which sees him return to his hometown to play football for the first time in 21 years. Hleb became Pep Guardiola’s sixth signing at Barcelona in 2008 in a move that surprised a few people, with Hleb not having set the Premier League alight during his three seasons at Arsenal. Undoubtedly talented, Hleb had one or two injury problems and he wasn’t the most devastating in the final third. He made 36 appearances in his first season in Spain, but none after that, going out on-loan to Stuttgart, Birmingham City and Wolfsburg.
1. Henrique – Ittihad Kalba
Pep Guardiola signed exactly seven players in his first summer in charge of Barcelona, and Brazilian centre-back Henrique was the last of the seven. Like Seydou Keita and Pep Guardiola himself, Henrique spent four years contracted to the club from 2008 to 2012, but unlike Keita he never actually registered a first team appearance. The €8 million man went out on-loan to Bayer Leverkusen, Racing Santander and Palmeiras, before making that loan move to Palmeiras a permanent one in 2012. Now aged 32, Henrique did return to Europe for a single season with Napoli in 2014-15, and this August he left Brazilian side Corinthians to sign for Ittihad Kalba in the United Arab Emirates.
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