Money wise they are ahead obviously and for obvious reasons and that is mainly the biggest reason why players want to play for Barcelona and not Juve for instance. Second reason is mainly because their fan-base has increased worldwide in the last 7-8 years, before that they were no where up to Juve's.
Players want to play with the best players? Of course, but apart from Messi, we are pretty much ahead of them in terms of player's qualities.
Suarez? Iniesta? Alba? Mascherano? Rakitic etc. They also have some good young players like Umtiti and Vidal.
You're right, though, money wise. But it's that money that brings you quality. It's just that Real Madrid does it a lot better than Barca.
Let me ask you something. Answer me honestly. Do you think an attractive club/elite club would end up buying D.Costa, Bernardeschi and De Sciglio? And selling Bonucci while not even replacing him. Because, imo, a top club would never buy such players.
I'm not saying we're signing shit players, but we're obviously not even competiting to buy top players simply because we cannot do that. Yes, one may say that we bought Pipita, but come on, we spent so much just because we sold Pogba. Just like we're gonna spend so much IF we sell Dybala eventually.
Look at our recent moves. Tevez, Vidal, Pirlo, Barzagli, Morata, Rugani, Caldara, Dybala, Pogba, etc. You see the pattern? It's players that needed to revive their career and young players with potential that we could place our hands on using the opportunity/Raiola. We ended up shaping Pogba & Morata and shipping them off. We did the same with Vidal. We're doing it with Dybala now.
We are a great club and in the top 10 in the world. No doubt about that. But we can't compete with the top clubs when it comes to players. That's why we never chase Neymar, James Rodriguez, Suarez, Jesus and others. It's money that gets them and money is coming from Spanish clubs, Bayern and some Arabs.
I might be wrong but I think once player has taken its shape I think they dream about Real and Barca. I also think playing at Camp Nou that's always filled is a big deal for them. And it's not just Barca per se, but Spain, and La Liga. I think their league is far more attractive than Serie A. In Spain you compete with Real Madrid, the best club in world, and you get to play alongside Messi. It's a big deal. In Italy you get to play infront of 30% crowd in the empty stadiums, horrible stadiums and without any tough competition. Napoli is strong but they spend peanuts. Roma was strong yet they sold everyone. It's just us. Once you reach a certain level I think players desire to leave the club, just like it happened with Vidal, Pogba and others. And mark my words. It's going to happen with both Dybala and Sandro. It's just a matter of time. It might be next summer, or 2-3 years. But they will leave us for top clubs.