Former Barcelona striker Luis Suarez has analyzed the club’s hunt for a new striker to replace Robert Lewandowski
and feels the club need a “more traditional No. 9.”Bringing in a new goalscorer is Barcelona’s top target currently, with Julian Alvarez still the top target, and Suarez has been asked what his former club should be looking for this summer.
“It depends on the characteristics the club is looking for. There’s the number nine who plays alongside another striker and roams all over the pitch,
and then there’s the more traditional number nine, the one who anchors the center-backs and allows for playing with two wingers,” he told Mundo Deportivo.
“Given how Barça plays today, I think they need a more traditional number nine, like Lewandowski was, complemented by the work Ferran does. But it’s not easy to arrive at Barcelona and perform from day one. If you arrive and score four or five goals in your first few games, you immediately set the bar high.”
Suarez was then asked which current No. 9s are his favorites and came up with his three top choices.
“I have two or three. Haaland is a lethal number nine in the box, although the team has to play for him. I prefer Harry Kane. He links up much better with the rest of the team. He makes movements thinking about a teammate’s counter-movement, he understands the game differently. I love those kinds of details,” he added,
“And then there’s Darwin [Núñez]. The first thing he has to do is change his mentality, strengthen it, because for me he has spectacular qualities. He knows the decision he made leaving Liverpool, but I see him as a player who can be fully recovered. If he reaches his best level, he’s a striker I love. He’s fast, he’s strong, he has power… There are aspects of the game he can still correct because he’s young and still has room to grow.”
Haaland, Kane and Nunez have all been linked with Barcelona at various points in time, but the club’s priority remains to bring in Alvarez from Atletico.
