Amid an exorbitant price tag, Barcelona have decided to stop pursuit of their number one strike target and will go for another alternative.
Luis Suarez is 33 years old and almost certainly beyond the best of his powers since the last few years. The Barcelona striker had been facing an inconsistent run of form in the previous couple of seasons but a long-term knee injury in January 2020 which required a surgical procedure and a four month layoff could’ve gotten the better of him.
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Don Balon has reported that the La Liga leaders have now made a striker’s signing of top priority and even rank such an objective to be above Neymar’s operation. Lautaro Martinez has been the longstanding target for the Catalans since a couple of months, but his owners are not willing to part ways with the Argentinian for a meagre sum.
Inter Milan are demanding at least 111 million euros from Barca, which seems to be a fee beyond their reach given the current financial situation. The Serie A giants have also rejected the chance of several swap deals in the last couple of weeks, knocking down opportunities to land players like Nelson Semedo, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal.
Barca have now come to a conclusion that they will not try signing Lautaro Martinez anymore due to Inter Milan’s supposedly rigid demands and have shortlisted two other strikers as alternatives. RB Leipzig’s mercurial frontman and also Liverpool’s prime target Timo Werner tops the new list which also includes Monaco’s Wissam Ben Yedder.
With Liverpool, Barcelona and probably even Real Madrid circling over Timo Werner, RB Leipzig have conceded to the fact that their superstar may be on the move. The Germans are demanding 60 million euros for his transfer and it looks like an affordable sum for all three of his suitors.
On the other hand, Monaco have not been as good as they were some years ago after getting rid of players such as Kylian Mbappe, Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy and thus, Ben Yedder, a former Sevilla man is open to returning to Spain. The Ligue 1 giants value the Franco-Tunisian at 40 million euros and will listen to offers.
From the two shortlisted options, it should be an obvious conclusion that Werner has to be Barca’s man. The 24 year old has been ranked amongst the world’s best strikers since a few years now, whereas his transfer fee is not exorbitant either. Even though Ben Yedder is 20 million euros cheaper and the Catalans tend to be penny wise and pound foolish, bringing in a 30 year old shouldn’t ideally be what they do.
Do you think Barca have what it takes to beat Liverpool for Timo Werner’s signing?