Barcelona Rumors: Club Eyeing Pair Of Young Attackers

FC Barcelona is in the hunt for some young attacking talent to give them depth behind the MSN trio and they have reportedly identified two youngsters in particular

Barcelona appear to have broken out of their lengthy slump with a pair of decisive victories over La Liga opponents but this is a team that still has some work to do to get back to last season’s level. One major weakness is the lack of attacking depth that has lead to some struggles from the best attacking trio in the world of Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez.

Aside from a bit of defensive fragility, that trio has played an incredible amount of football in the past year, with Gabriele Marcotti charting it at 16,058 minutes, about 2,500 more than the Bayern Munich attacking trio. A big part of that has been the additional tournaments such as the FIFA Club World Cup that they have been entered to after winning the Champions League so with success comes a bit of extra work.

In order to help that attacking trio minimize those minutes and maximize their potential in the big matches, Barcelona need to improve their attacking depth. Munir is a fine young player as is Sandro but they are nowhere near the level of MSN which is to be expected.

According to reports, two youngsters in Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho and Villareal’s Denis Suarez are seen as possible alternatives to Munir and Sandro to provide depth to the squad. This was a team that once boasted the likes of Thiago Alcantara, Pedro, and Alexis Sanchez in the rotation but have seen them all leave for more guaranteed first team football.

Coutinho is the true prize as the 23-year-old has taken a star turn in England this season. After being overshadowed by Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling for the past few years, Coutinho has become the best player at Liverpool and their most important attacker. He has notched eight goals and five assists in the Premier League season and has scored many of them in dramatic fashion with blasts from outside the box.

Liverpool has the Brazilian under contract until 2020 and if they plan to seriously challenge for the Premier League title again he will have to remain on Merseyside. Barcelona could tempt him away but they would have to pay a pretty penny for his services.

Denis Suarez is another intriguing young player that is a former member of the Barcelona B squad. He was sold to Villareal but there was a buyback clause inserted that would give the Blaugrana an opportunity to bring him back for just £3 million.

The attacking midfielder is not the star that Coutinho is and is just a year younger, but having already played for the Barca B team he is familiar with the club’s style and could fit in seamlessly. He will also cost about 10 times less than Coutinho and that is a conservative estimate of the Brazilian’s value.

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Barcelona have some interesting choices to make this summer but a few things are clear, even the best players in the world need a rest at times and a truly winning side runs much more than just 11-deep.