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If rumours are to be believed, Barcelona are ready to make a move for Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette, who was recently voted their Player of the Year.
The striker might be the subject of a £70 million bid from Barcelona in the summer and with Luis Suarez not getting any younger, the move does make a lot of sense.
We take a look at the 3 reasons why Barca should bid for Lacazette at any cost in the upcoming Summer Transfer Window.
#3 Experience and current form
This season, along with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Lacazette has been Arsenal's best player, scoring 13 goals and providing 10 assists in 34 Premier League matches. Nine of these 13 goals have come in the second half with 5 of them being scored in the last 15 minutes of the game. This shows how decisive he has been for Arsenal.
Lacazette takes 2.2 shots per game and with 1.4 shots from inside the penalty area, he has been Arsenal's major threat going forward.
When Lacazette left Lyon for Arsenal in 2017, he was already a top class player. He had finished as the top scorer of Ligue 1 in his last season at Lyon with 28 goals and was their top goalscorer from 2013 to 2017. Lacazette's goals in Europe too proved important for Lyon and was instrumental in their bid to challenge for the top 4 spot.
This means that even at 27, Lacazette can be considered a very experienced goalscorer. It will bind well with Barcelona, who want a striker at his peak to serve the club for at least 5-6 years. In 2014, Suarez too was in a similar position and took a leap of faith and has never looked back. And with Lacazette not getting any younger, this could be his last chance to make it to one of the big traditional European clubs.
#2 His game suits Barcelona's style of play
Lacazette is a player who can hold on to the ball very well, can dictate the flow and tempo of the game and control the pace of the game. He never skips his defensive duties during the game and this season, he has averaged a tackle and 0.3 interceptions per game.
Lacazette's movements off the ball are often intelligent ones, which generally creates spaces for his teammates to exploit from. He averages 0.8 key passes per game, which is not bad considering he is a number 9 and not a winger or a midfielder.
Barcelona might start in a 4-3-3 formation but always revert back to 4-4-2 without the ball with Suarez usually playing in front of Messi as a sole number 9. This means that a Barca striker must know how to hold on to the ball, be willing to press high and win the ball back without getting cautioned.
Also, Barca is known for playing possession-based football and hence, needs to have a striker who can provide key passes and take part in the build-up to the goal.
If Lacazette does make a move to Catalunya he would flourish in an environment that plays to his strength.
#1 Barcelona academy product Abel Ruiz still young
FC Barcelona’s La Masia has produced a number of promising players in the last decade with Abel Ruiz another name looking to graduate to the first team in the near future. But he is still 19 and not ready to meet the demands of La Liga and certainly not ready to be the understudy of Luis Suarez.
By signing Lacazette, Barcelona give Abel Ruiz ample time to develop because as Suarez slows down in the following few seasons, Lacazette can step up and replace him in the big games, while Ruiz can develop without hogging too much of limelight.
If Barcelona goes for someone like Maxi Gomez of Celta (22) or Marcus Rashford (21) instead of Lacazette, it would probably mean an end for Ruiz's future at Barcelona as they already have a young attacking line-up with Ousmane Dembele and Malcolm in the ranks.
Add to that the strikers mentioned above and you have no place for Ruiz in the team. Barcelona would thereby do better by signing Lacazette instead of making Ruiz insecure by signing another youngster.
