Most Barcelona fans seem satisfied. The Catalan club splashed out on Valencia midfielder Andre Gomes to tie up a deal on Thursday night, but beyond getting one over their fierce rivals Real Madrid, the deal doesn't really make much sense.
On Tuesday morning, Marca dedicated its front page to the Portuguese: "Andres Gomes. Closer." To Real Madrid, they meant. But just two days later, he moved to Barca instead as the Blaugrana announced the signing late on Thursday for a fee in the region of €35 million plus add-ons.
It takes Barca's transfer spending well over their initial €60m budget at the start of the summer and although there is no doubt Gomes is a good player, a central midfielder is not exactly a priority postion right now.
Last winter, the Spanish champions had hoped to sign a striker to lighten the load on Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar. Nolito was their top target, but the club couldn't find the funds and when their forwards tired in April, Barca paid the price with Champions League elimination.
But six months down the line, still no striker has materialised. Denis Suarez has returned after Barca activated a buy-back clause, while France defenders Samuel Umtiti and Lucas Digne have also arrived. All will be useful, as will Andre Gomes, but the money could perhaps have been better spent elsewhere.
With Dani Alves no longer at the club, Barcelona could do with signing a replacement at right-back. Instead, they appear unwilling to pay up for the man who would slot in seamlessly in that position: Arsenal's La Masia graduate and Spanish international Hector Bellerin.
So Sergi Roberto (a midfielder) will probably play at right-back and Sergi Samper, now permanently promoted to the first team and with bags of talent, is again unlikely to feature much at all. In the meantime, Andre Gomes is perhaps seen as the replacement for Xavi that Arda Turan never was and the Turk could now operate further forward in a wide role.
Gomes is the first player represented by Jorge Mendes to sign for Barcelona since Deco back in 2004 and the Brazil-born playmaker said last year: "I'm convinced that Andre Gomes would be a great signing for Barcelona. I don't know if he can play at the level of [Andres] Iniesta or [Ivan] Rakitic, but in the future he will."
That is high praise and with Iniesta at 32, it is perhaps a good idea to have a player who can fill in and allow the Spaniard to rest at times over a long season. Whether the Portuguese can hit the heights of Iniesta or Rakitic, however, remains to be seen.
Gomes is only 22 and he will improve, of course, but right now there are big question marks over whether he can step up to that level. He is also slow, although that is less of a problem in a possession philosophy like Barca's.
Many fans of the Blaugrana have often moaned about their club's failure to move for midfielders like Luka Modric and Isco who are seemingly suited to the club's style but who were bought by Madrid instead.
This time, though, the club has trumped its rivals and those supporters are happy. But only time will tell if it was really worth it.
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