This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Barcelona had a mixed start to the ongoing 2019/20 season and while there were multiple reasons as to why, Luis Suarez seems to be right at the heart of the problem.
The 32-year-old Uruguayan is already heading towards the twilight of his career and Barcelona’s reported interest in RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner, per Calciomercato, could finally give them a solution for that issue.
On the chalkboard
Suarez has definitely been one of the key pieces in the Blaugrana jigsaw ever since he made his big transfer from Liverpool all those years ago.
After all, the Uruguayan has already filled his cabinet with silverware during his stay at the Catalan capital, proving his worth time and time again. But there’s an end to every tale.
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Calciomercato report that Barcelona have already taken notice of Suarez’s sub-par performances and are, therefore, keeping an eye on a number of targets who could bolster the team in the future.
One of them is the €70m (£62.3m) rated Werner from the Bundesliga, and the 23-year-old could be a breath of fresh air in Catalonia.
A necessary improvement
Unfortunately for Barcelona, at this point, there’s no escaping the obvious – Suarez has seen some better days and both his performances and many fans’ complaints can attest to that.
So far, the Uruguayan has played a total of five games in La Liga, scoring three goals in the process and tallying an average of 2.4 shots per game in the domestic competition.
Werner, on the other hand, has been more active and more prolific than his counterpart, scoring five goals in six games and having 3.7 shots per game as well.
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Of course, at Barcelona, scoring goals is important but their forwards have to be good on the ball and participate in the build-up of the attacks as well.
Suarez is usually pretty good at that but this season he averages just 0.4 key passes per game while Werner can boast with 2.3. The difference is staggering and pretty obvious.
Their overall passing accuracy is similar as Barcelona’s forward has 74.3% as opposed to Werner’s 74.7% but even there, the young German edges the Uruguayan out.
And not to mention that Leipzig’s forward is just 23, meaning he still has room to grow immensely.
Whoscored gave Suarez an overall rating of 6.97 while Werner sits at 7.54, edging his “rival” out in that department as well.
If the reports coming from the Italian sources are true, Barcelona have successfully identified a player that could bring much more to the table than Suarez does at the moment.
