British players who represented FC Barcelona

Only a handful of British players have gotten the opportunity to play for Barcelona.

The Catalans have a long history of bringing the world’s best talents to Camp Nou. Only three such players have been British.

Steve Archibald

Archibald arrived in Barcelona in 1984 from Tottenham Hotspurs for £1.15m. In his first season at the club, the Scottish Striker helped Barcelona win La Liga and played a key role when the team reached the 1986 European cup final.

Soon after, Archibald was left out of the squad due to the restrictions of fielding a set number of foreign players. He was initially sent out on loan to Blackburn Rovers before being sold to Hibernian in 1988.

As a matter of fact, he still lives in the city of Barcelona.

In an interview with Guardian in 2021, Archibald said, “The league [title] was enormous. It took five hours to get from the airport to town. A million people.

“Seville was my big regret; it should have been historic, the first, but it became a trauma and everything was torn up.

“You can’t imagine the burning sensation in your stomach when you lose a European Cup final. It lives in all of us. And it wasn’t that we took our eye off the ball.”

Gary Lineker

It was after the 1986 world cup in Mexico when Linekar won the Golden Boot.  Barcelona did not rest any time and completed the signing of the striker for £ 2.8m.

He had a great debut season as he scored 21 goals. First, he scored a brace on his debut against Racing Santander and a hat trick against Real Madrid away.

Unfortunately, Johan Cruyff, the manager at the time, did not believe in the Striker’s qualities and often deployed him out of position. Linekar was eventually sold to Tottenham Hotspurs and went back to playing in the Premier League. 

While talking to The Guardian in 2021, he said, “Cruyff didn’t want me. He played me on the wing so I got pissed off and asked to move. It was obvious.

“You could only have two foreigners and he wanted his own. I understood and accepted that – my ego’s not that big – but he didn’t have the courage to tell me.

“I wish I’d said: ‘Johan, I’d love to play for you, you’re a genius, but if you don’t want me let’s work out a move.’

“His system was made for me. The center-forward can’t leave the limits of the area and runs near the post. That’s my game! Play me! That’s what I do! But he didn’t give me the chance.

“I just carried on. Anyone can play on the wing. Honestly, it’s easy. Then he would take me off early so I would whine. I ain’t daft.”

Mark Hughes

Hughes Futures never wanted to leave Manchester United. However, he knew that a big bed from a foreign club was coming in for him. He arrived during the same time as Gary Linekar was at the club. 

In a podcast, the former Wales international said: “The feeling was that a bid was going to come in, from maybe a foreign club, just because that’s where the money was.

“In those days, Italy was the big place and Spain, either Real Madrid or Barcelona. I was in-between agents or agents coming out of the woodwork because they could see what was likely to happen.

“I was just trying to play my game. I was quite happy. I was a center-forward for Manchester United, for goodness’ sake. And I was coming in here week-in, week-out to play in front of 40,000.

“I was having a great time; I didn’t particularly want to go anywhere.”

Hughes’s stay at the club lasted for only a season. He scored just five goals and was sold to Bayern Munich in 1987.

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