Alcacer another debacle for Barca

7 years ago

Alcacer another debacle for Barca

The Catalan club are keen to sign the Spain forward, but Valencia are unwilling to negotiate and a transfer would cost in the region of €50m

Barcelona's striker search goes on. Ever since Pedro left to join Chelsea last summer, the Catalan club have been in the market for a new forward to ease the burden on Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar. But almost a year on, still no player has arrived.

Pedro's parting gift was to score the winner in the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla in Tbilisi.
By then, it was late in the summer and Barca's transfer ban meant they would have been unable to field a new signing until January anyway.
So they waited. And in the winter window, bringing in a forward was their priority.

Nolito was their top target and he wanted to come back. But Barca could not find the funds to sign their former forward, saw a loan proposal rejected by Celta Vigo and took the advice of financial vice-president Susana Monje, who warned the board that the transfer could affect the club's economic stability in the long term.

So again Barca waited, and despite doing much of their business early in the summer by bringing in Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Digne and Andre Gomes, as well as buying back Denis Suarez, the striker situation remains unchanged.

Initerest in Nolito cooled and the Spain striker opted to join Manchester City,citing a need for regular first-team football.

"I thought it was the best decision for me and my career," he said. "I had a consultation with my family and my agent and it took me just two days to make the decision. I have come to the Premier League to play with City and under Pep Guardiola, who will play me in the first team and I am very happy with the decision I took."

Barca then turned their attentions to Kevin Gameiro and Luciano Vietto, but both players arrived at similar conclusions. They wanted to play football, not sit on the bench.

"I knew that if I went to Barcelona, I would be the fourth-choice attacker," Gameiro said after moving to Atletico. "My playing time would have diminished, I think."

And Vietto opted to replace the Frenchman on loan at Sevilla, saying: "At my age, the most important thing is to get regular playing time and to develop."

Another possibilty was Brazilian youngster Gabriel Jesus and Neymar told Barca his compatriot would be a great addition. However, like Nolito, the 19-year-old ended up moving to Manchester City instead.

Meanwhile, Munir El Haddadi has impressed in pre-season, but Barca boss Luis Enrique is prepared to send the Spanish Under-21 striker out on loan and the forward was used to tempt Valencia into releasing their captain Paco Alcacer.

Some reports claimed the Valencia-born striker was willing to join Barcelona, but Valencia have said he is not for sale and that they are not going to negotiate for the 22-year-old. "We are working very hard to improve our team," president Lay Hoon Chan said. "And if there is any doubt, Paco Alcacer is a Valencia player, and we don't want to sell him."

And Alcacer would be likely to see his progress stunted at Camp Nou, in any case, while from a Barca point of view an asking price of €50m is an incredible amount of money for a player who will spend most of his time on the bench behind the Catalans' three famous forwards.

So it is back to the drawing board once again for Barca and time is running out.
The Blaugrana begin their season on Sunday against Sevilla in the Spanish Supercopa and with just two weeks left in the window, they may be better off bringing in a veteran like Robin van Persie or Mario Gomez - or simply sticking with what they have.