With the £65 million acquisition of Frenkie de Jong from Ajax to come into fruition in the summer, Barcelona are gearing up to look deadly once again for 2019/20, most likely on the back of their 26th La Liga title.
However, one glaring problem remains, and that is replacing the almost peerless Luis Suarez to lead the Barcelona front-line. The controversial Uruguayan has scored 167 goals in his four and a half years since moving from Liverpool and won everything possible at the top level of Spanish club football.
He has, however, now turned 32-years-old and the speculation as to who can step into his stead with his advancing years is sure to mount up over the coming months.
Here are three of the best to take the mantle from Suarez.
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
A brace of Golden Boots surely won’t pacify the thirst of the England captain to get his hands on silverware. For all talk of what Mauricio Pochettino has brought to Tottenham Hotspur, that trophy cabinet is still bare and are once agin leaving hopes dashed by slipping further out of the title race this season.
Kane last signed a contract in 2016 to keep in North London until 2024. Would Kane even consider following the example of fellow Spurs legend and the only other Englishman to win the World Cup Golden Boot Gary Lineker and move to the Nou Camp? Maybe we’re looking at the first £200million footballer…
Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain)
Is a return for the prodigal son on the cards? It’s increasingly apparent Ligue 1 is just way too easy for the dazzling Brazilian, and headlines have been dominated for a while now that Neymar and Barcelona have been batting eyelashes at each other once again. It needed Paris Saint-Germain to make the forward the most expensive footballer of all time – at £198 million.
Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)
Not news that Reds would love to hear, but seeing as Barcelona have made a bit of a habit of pillaging the good ship Liverpool. Since 2010, the blaugrana have nabbed Javier Mascherano, Luis Suarez, and Philippe Coutinho – arguably the Reds three most talented players of that era – contributing a stonking £224.3million to the Liverpool war chest that has so far failed to yield discernible results despite their own heavy expenditure.
Throw in Xabi Alonso’s move to Real Madrid a decade ago and it seems there’s an distinct enamour with the delights of Spain.
Pundits hark on about what Firmino provides to Jurgen Klopp’s side but should the silverware fail to be delivered to Anfield once again the temptations of the glories that Barcelona have shown to be capable of delivering time and time again would undoubtedly to be too hard to resist should, and continue the trend of a distinct lack of hesitation in flippantly swapping the red portion of Merseyside for the Mediterranean.