"I like a tap-in," Martin Braithwaite said, and then he started laughing.

It was October, cold and misty outside at Leganes' training ground, where huge letters painted across the wall facing the pitch demand "train, compete, fight but above all, enjoy and dream." The Danish striker had been asked what kind of chances he likes best. Well, that was obvious, it was suggested: two yards out, no-one in the way, an open net. "That's an easy goal," Braithwaite said, laughing again.

He didn't get many of those at Leganes -- only three clubs have had fewer touches in the area -- but he might get a few more now. If, that is, he gets the chance to play.

On Thursday, Braithwaite became FC Barcelona's 24th signing in five years, an emergency solution to the injury suffered by Ousmane Dembele (and Luis Suarez before him). He cost €18m from Leganes -- left without their strikers and without much hope either -- and signed a four-and-a-half-year deal which few expect him to see out, probably not even him. In the morning, the money for his buyout clause was deposited at the league; in the afternoon he was presented at the Camp Nou.

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Not that much was made of it. Sure, there were the kick-ups, smiles, a new shirt (no.19), and a medical, marked by the obligatory picture: shirt off, suckers on, thumbs up. There was a trip to the opening of a new club shop, too. But there were no cheering fans and not much attention on his football. When it came to the press conference, in the midst of an institutional crisis at the club, most of the questions were not for him. "Everything but Braithwaite," noted AS. "Anonymous," they called him, "practically see-through" or, as Marca put it, "eclipsed."

Barcelona's new signing only fielded two questions. "I hope to score a lot of goals," he said. That night, Abel Ruiz and Carles Perez, the men Barcelona had moved out during the winter window, actually did, for SC Braga and AS Roma respectively in the Europa League. And yet what little Braithwaite said also helped to explain part of the reason he is there, why he took this on and why they turned to him. Why it might work, too.

Braithwaite's move to Barcelona raised eyebrows for a number of reasons but the player's extremely motivated, and being underestimated, when it comes to what he can bring the Spanish giants. Pedro Salado/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images

"It was a surprise, but at the same time not so much because I have always had the ambition to play at this level," he said. Whether that is his level -- and many doubt it is -- only time will tell.

But he doesn't even have that much time: unable to play in the Champions League, Braithwaite has just 14 games until the end of the season and possibly the end of his Barcelona career. Though he signed a four-and-a-half year contract, this is seen as a short-term fix that will probably end in the summer, when he could find himself stuck. "He's here for what's left of the league," Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu said, not exactly offering up a ringing endorsement. If he doesn't play much, it could have an impact on Euro 2020, too.

Braithwaite knows that. He is not stupid -- quite the opposite, which is precisely the point -- and on one level the answer to the question of why join Barcelona is simple: because it's Barcelona. Who wouldn't? It's often said that the train only passes once. A lot of the time, it's not true; this time, it is. Catch it while you can and see if you can stay on board. You'll always be able to say you played there. Or, and this is the risk, didn't. But then, what if? What if it works? And even if it doesn't, what's the worst that can happen? Barcelona never looks bad on anyone's list of accomplishments.

As for the club -- and leaving aside the debate about the rules and the ethics of this, plus the damage done to Leganes who, incidentally, said they didn't blame Barca and described Braithwaite as a "gentleman" -- they argue that there are reasons too. The Dane cost almost three times what Angel would have done: Getafe had agreed a deal for €6m, plus €2m in variables. But he is younger (28 against 32), he will play at the Euros, on display, and they believe that he will have a sell-on value, opening up a way to recuperate some of the money invested, which they haven't really got to waste. That they would really make back a significant chunk of the outlay is questionable, though.

But, believe it or not, there is football too. And while Braithwaite has played for Bordeaux, Toulouse, Middlesbrough and Leganes, a long way from the orbit in which Barcelona's targets are found, while he has not been an obvious candidate for far better clubs than that, his arrival does address some of their needs -- given the context and the market in which they had to operate. He has scored eight goals this season, six in the league. It may not be mountains, but at a team like Leganes, it is something. It is only two fewer goals than Antoine Griezmann, for example. It is also a third of all those Leganes scored; between them, the remaining players have eight league goals. This isn't a place of endless opportunity.