During last summer's transfer window Barcelona's financial woes came into the limelight. But in just less than six months they've begun to turn things around.

Last year, the club's financial woes meant they were going to lose their number one superstar, Lionel Messi. No one ever saw that coming but this was the beginning of crumbling for one of football's greatest clubs.

Other players like Griezmann, Junior Firpo, Emerson Royal, Ilaix Moriba, Jean-Clair Todibo, Miralem Pjanic and Francisco Trincao had to leave for Barcelona to generate around €130m (£111.5m) in sales.

Fast forward to this current season, a lot of bad performances spelled doom for Barcelona, and the breaking point was Ronald Koeman's sacking and Barcelona's group stage UEFA Champions League exit. These scenarios showed how badly the mighty had fallen.

The Rebuilding

Xavi had to begin a rebuild for the club to bring back the Barcelona ways.

After several attempts to instill the Barcelona style and mentality into the players, his biggest challenge was the fact that the current squad contained players who had no business with the team in the first place.

As soon as the January transfer window opened, Xavi swung into action by bringing in Ferran Torres from Manchester City for £55million, a little too much for a club stricken with debts. Barcelona was now tasked with the responsibility of axing out some players to make room for Ferran's registration.

In response to this, Coutinho was shipped to England's Aston Villa on loan while Samuel Umtiti signed a new contract. This meant Ferran Torres could be registered along with Dani Alves.

Barcelona, who had already agreed to bring in Dani Alves before the window, bolstered their squad in January with four new additions in the form of Dani Alves, Ferran Torres, Adama Traore and Pierre-Emeric Aubameyang.

This has offered a lot of varieties for Xavi Hernandez. Three of these players are familiar with the Barcelona style of play while Aubameyang represents a goal-scoring threat which Barcelona always possess in the mold of Samuel Eto'o, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Luiz Suarez.

The addition of Adama Traore, Ferran Torres and Aubameyang gives Xavi a whole new attacking perspective. Aubameyang becomes Barca's go-to striker, a natural number nine while the former two play on the wings. Ferran can also play as a false nine if Xavi decides to make a tactical switch.

However, these players face stiff competition from the likes of Ez Abde, Ousmane Dembele, Memphis Depay, Ansu Fati, Luuk de Jong, Martin Braithwaite, Ferran Jutgla. A whole lot of attacking options for Xavi.

Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Gavi, Nico, Riqui Puig, Sergi Roberto and Sergio Busquets stays in the engine room.

Fullbacks include Dani Alves, Jordi Alba, Sergino Dest. Ez Abde, Adama Traore and Alejandro Balde can be selected together with the full-backs just in case Xavi decides to use a three three-man defense and wing backs instead.

While Araujo, Pique, Lenglet, Eric Garcia, Mingueza, Umtiti and Mika Marmol plays in central defense.

Xavi Hernandez heads into the crucial second half of the campaign with a lot of options at his disposal. The strength of this squad is its versatility and blend of experienced and youthful players.

Xavi, a good tactician himself, has little or no pressure on his shoulders as he focuses on Europa League and finishing within the top four of the La Liga. This will give Xavi time to implement his philosophy and get to know his best squad as well as switch between the 4-3-3, 3-5-2, 3-4-3 and 4-2-3-1 formations.

Barcelona Rise from their Ruins?

Questions were asked whether Barcelona could recover from this fall? But it seems Barcelona has taken advantage of their fall after their Post-Messi era came earlier than expected which many already spelled as doom due to Barca's over-reliance on Messi.

They take advantage by removing their fringe stars who were underperforming yet stacking big salaries and getting players that focus on team play which is Barca's way.

They're able to cut short their outrageous budget and get players on free and on loan. Barcelona took advantage of the January transfer window by getting players who can set them back on the road to rediscovery. This is a way to correct their outlandish spending.

Who could have thought the fallen ones would rise so quickly?

We will know by the end of the season...