Barcelona’s Luis Suarez drawing interest from Ajax

Barcelona willing to listen to offers for the Uruguayan striker.

Barcelona have compiled a lengthy list of players they’ve deemed transferable following the debacle in Lisbon against Bayern Munich. Among the names are several heavyweights including Luis Suarez.

The Catalans may have found another suitor as according to Diario Sport, Dutch-side Ajax are interested in signing their former striker. The report claims that Ajax are set to make an offer in the coming weeks.

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Ajax was the first club Suarez played for when he first came to Europe and may be interested in finishing his European career at the club where it all started.

Although there may be other offers for the Uruguayan coming on the horizon. He reportedly has an offer from Al-Arabi in Qatar and has also been linked with a move to Major League Soccer.

Despite being the club’s second highest scorer, behind only Lionel Messi, it is clear that his time at Barcelona, along with several of his teammates, has reached the end of its cycle.

The Champions League exit proved that Barcelona need to make some wholesale changes and a significant part of those changes are going to come with regards to personnel.

Barcelona need to cut the wage bill.

Alongside rejuvenating the squad, Barcelona need to trim the wage bill. Suarez is one of the top earners at the club and his departure would free up a lot of space.

It has been suggested that they cannot sign Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez unless Suarez leaves. Selling him would be one step towards solving that problem.

Suarez was what the club needed when they signed him from Liverpool ahead of the 2014/2015. But he’s been a handicap for a couple of years now.

His goal scoring numbers remain impressive but he was a liability on the pitch as he got older. He could no longer press as he used to and went invisible on the road in a number of Champions League matches.

Messi was afforded the luxury of not having to track because of what he can do on the pitch regardless of his age. The same cannot be said of Suarez. For a team like Barcelona who plays the way they do, they cannot afford to have two players on standby while the rest of the team tried to defend.

His influence in the locker room and their inability to find a suitable replacement the last few years all but insured that Suarez would start every game and be almost undroppable. From Ernesto Valverde to Quique Setien, both were reluctant to even sub him off during a game.

Ajax have offered Barcelona a lifeline to move him on and he would still be able to play Champions League football. Considering some interest in their right-back Sergino Dest, there are different avenues for a deal to get done.