It was widely reported this week that FC Barcelona had turned down a €35 million bid for Andre Gomes, to which, let's face it, pretty much everyone's reaction was: You did what?!

When Barcelona signed Gomes last summer, sporting director Robert Fernández described it as "an opportunity the market had presented us with." Now, less than 12 months on, the market had presented them with another opportunity: to get rid again. And, given that they had paid €35m for Gomes (plus another €20m in objectives that haven't yet been met), get their money back too. They might even have got a little more: The €35m they'd been offered by a Premier League club was just one of three bids.

Maybe they could have even started an auction, not that they needed to. This was good enough. Maybe, most thought, they should have just taken the money and run while they could. Bite their hand off? They should have chomped way past the elbow.

There was a game early in 2017 where Andre Gomes slipped and fell over and the fans started whistling. It wasn't the first time and it would not be the last. It was the kind of thing that could happen to anyone but it seemed symbolic somehow, like the final proof of his haplessness -- if they needed any. He had joined for €35m, on a five-year deal with a €100m buyout clause, and when it comes to the price-to-performance ratio, he might well have been the worst signing of last summer.

While there were a few to choose from, especially at his own club, even they counted against him. Barcelona fans decided that he was to blame, a kind of flag-bearer for failure in the transfer market.

That day, from the middle of the pitch, the heart of the Barcelona team -- the place where their identity used to lie -- and through which the ball is supposed to flow endlessly, Gomes completed fewer passes than anyone else, except Luis Suárez and Marc-Andre ter Stegen, the goalkeeper. In Paris, when they lost to PSG, Gomes missed the chance that could have changed everything. (Although that would have meant missing out on that comeback, it is true.)

Another headline the following month described him as being "under suspicion." They suspected that he wasn't very good, that he was just plain bad. Suspected? They saw it.

By the end of the season, Andre Gomes had scored just three goals and provided a single assist. At times, he was not so much bad as just kind of not there.

Andre Gomes has taken time to settle at Barcelona but they'd be foolish to give up on him already. LLUIS GENE/AFP/Getty Images

When he arrived, the sporting director had talked about him as a player who could "fill" the midfield, but the opposite happened; he left holes, appearing absent or inconsequential. Those stats were telling. He rarely lost the ball, but while he completed over 90 percent of his passes, there were just not that many of them, not for a Barcelona midfielder. There were not many that were telling, either; not that many moments to be excited about.

One online video was titled "Andre Gomes: best skills and goals 2016-2017." It's 32 seconds long, and the ball doesn't appear once. Instead, it is him walking up the tunnel and then some close-ups of his face, looking a little forlorn. It ends, tongue in cheek, with the phrase "thanks for watching." Watching what? Sure, there are smarty-pants everywhere and it was just a joke. But many a true word said in jest and all that -- and there would have been plenty laughing along, not that laughter was the standard reaction.

Some supporters kept on whistling; they grumbled when he got the ball. They grumbled when he got in the team, in fact -- and grumbled when he lost it again. There was something about Luis Enrique's face, the resignation written across it as he held out his hand to Gomes when he went off early in one game, that was eloquent.

It was as early as February and the Camp Nou had "sentenced him," a headline claimed. The sentence was severe. Many fans and critics would have sent him into exile if they could have. Then this summer, they passed up the opportunity to do just that: to write him off, get their money back and forget the whole sorry mess had ever happened. But they didn't take it.

Bloody idiots, right?

No, not really, no. And certainly not as silly as it night look. Not as daft as whistling him was, either. "If you're going to whistle, stay at home," Gerard Pique insisted after one match in which Gomes got the treatment. "That doesn't help the team, the player or anyone."

Andres Iniesta agreed: "Whistles don't help, they're not good." Luis Enrique was an even more determined defender. At one point late in the season, he called it "pathetic" to focus on a single player after defeats; it was "horrible" and made "no sense" to blame Gomes.

He was absolutely right, too. If, as sometimes seemed to be the case, part of the problem was personality; if it sometimes seemed that he hid a little rather than wanting the ball, demanding it; if the pressure at the biggest clubs can be uncomfortable, even overwhelming; then it is surely better to encourage than admonish. Whistling isn't going to help.

The manager tried. Every chance he got, he defended his player. He highlighted Andre Gomes' qualities as often as he could -- and he has them. When Gomes scored twice against Valencia toward the back end of the season, Luis Enrique was asked if he was doubly happy to see a player he had protected score, a player who had come in for so much criticism play well. "No: triply," he replied, "I congratulate those who decided to applaud because there is nothing nicer than playing in your stadium and the fans supporting you."

In any case, it's not just that whistling rarely helps -- that it is, to use the Spanish phrase, throwing rocks at your own roof. There's more to it than that because here's the thing: Andre Gomes was not that bad. By the end, he was not bad at all. In fact, while some prejudices and judgments are difficult to shake off, by then he was actually pretty good.

And, most important of all, it should not be long before he is very good.

Gomes was not the perfect player for Barcelona, but he did become the perfect target. His price tag, and the expectation that his signing engendered, made him an easy scapegoat. There is something about the way he moves that did so, too. Some players look like they're putting their lives on the line even though they're not; that's just the way they play. (Incidentally, there are others -- lots of others -- who do loads of running that they know is pointless but that they also know plays well with fans.) Others can look apathetic but it doesn't necessarily mean they are, and it certainly doesn't mean they don't care. But it makes others think you don't.

Gomes may be one of those players.

When he arrived, he said that Barcelona fit his "philosophy" and his "personality" more than Real Madrid but at times, his very style seemed to count against him. And once the process had begun, and the confidence ebbed away, once people's minds were made, it got worse. In the wrong circumstances, a player can withdraw and when he does, his worth collapses.

"No player is good without confidence, not one," Luis Enrique insisted.

Pull him out of that, protect him, encourage him, build a team in which he fits and an environment in which he comfortable, and a better player will surely appear. "He is only at 30 percent of his talent," Luis Enrique said. "Imagine him at 100 percent."

Barcelona is also not the easiest place to adapt to, even if it does fit Gomes' philosophy. Javier Mascherano talked of the need to "relearn" football there; Alexis Sánchez said something similar. The ball moves quicker, you have to meet that pace. Some players never do, but even those who have often require a number of things -- time and continuity among them.

Gomes played a lot (31 times in the league and eight in the Champions League and the Cup) but was rarely a regular starter and was employed in various roles right across the midfield, even popping up at right-back.

He arrived at just 22 years old. Next season, there is no guarantee but it makes sense for him to be more at ease and better adapted. Michael Laudrup and Ronald Koeman were whistled in their first seasons too. He always knew that the signing was just the start, talking about how he had "time to grow." Barcelona was the perfect club for that, he said.

That part is debatable: it can be a difficult club too. Yet in February, when his season was looking like a disaster to most, Gomes said that he was "feeling better bit by bit." So maybe he is ready. Maybe he is stronger than he looks. "He needs to improve emotionally but he is at the right club to do so and has the right attitude," Luis Enrique said. "He is demanding, responsible and has quality."

The quality is there, for sure. Ernesto Valverde, Barcelona's new coach, thinks so and there is a reason Gomes mentioned Real Madrid: Both of Spain's big two chased him. Madrid thought they had him and they were prepared to pay a similar fee, totalling around €60m. You don't do that for a dreadful player; Madrid and Barcelona are not idiots, they don't fight each other for someone useless.

Valencia's coaching staff talked about him as a player who was going to be among the best in Europe. If he wins the Ballon d'Or, Barcelona have to pay his former club an extra €15m on top of the €20m in objectives. That seems funny now, but the clause was not included just for a laugh.

Barcelona took advantage of a "market opportunity," they admitted. Gomes was not a pre-established target for last summer but according to the sporting director, he was a player they had long watched -- a young, technical, talented player, versatile, who can strike the ball well and has a decent physique. A player with margin for improvement, too. So far it hasn't worked out but in principle, it's all still there. Especially that space to get better. "His potential is gigantic," said Luis Enrique.

A huge fee might have changed their minds -- and who knows where the summer will yet take us -- but while many would have taken the money and doing so would have been understandable, at €35m it also made sense to turn it down. There's an argument to say it's not so silly, that's for sure.

Why give up for no profit? Especially after the final few weeks of the season, when there was a hint of something better to come? Why swap a player you know for one you don't who comes with no guarantees either? What can that €35m really get you anyway? Why do it if that "gigantic potential" gets fulfilled somewhere else? Why not try to tease it out and work with a player you believe in (even if less than before), someone you can improve, who can at least be useful?

It might not work, but it might. And there are those there that believe in him. Fewer than before, sure, but they are there and they matter. In the end, the decision probably comes down to something simple. "Gomes will be important in the years to come," Barcelona's former manager said, and Barcelona's new manager agreed.