The coronavirus pandemic has sent most football clubs into a turbulent financial state, with Barcelona being among those with worse effects.
Barcelona have come to a decision that they will not be negotiating further with Inter Milan for Lautaro Martinez’s signing. The Catalans are not being able to beat the Serie A giants’ resolute stance with regard to the Argentina international’s asking price and thus, they have now set their heads towards pursuing other alternatives.
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Luis Suarez has not been playing as well as he would in his prime, whereas Barca clearly cannot expect Martin Braithwaite to step up and fire on all guns. Timo Werner and Wissam Ben Yedder have been identified as targets by the Blaugrana, as a result, and as per Don Balon, another player that’s been added to the list is Donyell Malen.
Donyell Malen plays for Dutch outfit PSV Eindhoven and gained attention for the first time after he finished the 2018-19 season with 27 goals. He has been on the radars of Arsenal, Chelsea and Leicester City lately and the Catalans have now joined the English trio in their bid to sign the player worth 25 million euros.
Given that the player’s transfer fee is less than a quarter of that of Lautaro Martinez, Barca believe that he could be a player they can realistically sign and Lionel Messi has approved their interest in the Netherlands international. However, Barcelona looking to sign the 21 year old as their first-choice striker really makes no sense and is a subpar choice.
Malen has been prominent for just one and a half season, that too in the Eredivisie which is not even ranked among the world’s top five leagues. PSV have been in the Champions League for a few seasons now, but their striker has never really made the headlines as have the likes of Lautaro Martinez, Timo Werner or Erling-Braut Haaland lately.
While 25 million euros will be an attractive price for the Barca board who is anyway struggling financially, they must not be driven into signing a player who would probably have not much time to settle and is not a proven name with experience. Everything said and done, they club has to sign a quality player, like Martinez or Werner even if that means stretching the budget.
Do you think Donyell Malen is the right choice for the Camp Nou outfit?