Taking a look at the shambles of Douglas at FC Barcelona
Douglas has left for Sporting Gijon on loan and he had to go for free because nobody wanted to pay his salary. The Brazilian was not in Luis Enrique's plans. As shown in the last two seasons, in which he has played just eight games. That said, he has won nine titles and cups.
To this day nobody knows why Barcelona signed Douglas in 2014. Barcelona paid 5.5m euros to Sao Paulo for a totally unknown player, who had not even been an international with his country. He arrived as a mystery but on his disastrous debut (September 24, at Malaga) you could tell he didn't have the ability to play for Barcelona. Despite that, he's been here for two years...
Douglas has a contract until June 2019. i.e. at the end of this season and then two more. Terrifying. Albert Soler and Robert Fernandez were doing everything they can to find him an exit. And Douglas didn't want to leave. Where could this mediocre right-back go that would be better than sitting in the stands of Camp Nou, watching his team-mates win titles?
Douglas is, without doubt, one of the biggest failures in the club's transfer history. A failure that only cost 5.5 million euros, sure. Vermaelen cost triple, has only played slightly more (21 games in two seasons).
