3 players Barcelona should look at to replace Luis Suarez

Barcelona's dearest No.9 and their prime striker Luis Suarez is not only the best at his club but also one of the world's frontrunners in his centre-forward position on goal. The Uruguayan forward, however, seems to be going through a rough patch as of right now, which can only be due to the fact that he may have entered his twilight years in the game.

Currently aged 32, Suarez has been at Barcelona since 2014 summer and has since gone on to make over 150 appearances for them - also netting in over 125 goals in the process. He also has over 50 senior goals for his country Uruguay, from 100+ appearances. Despite these immense numbers, some other figures have surfaced up since Barca's nonchalant display in the 0-0 stalemate against Lyon last night in the UCL Round of 16, and those figures show how serious Suarez' current goal-drought is.

It has been 1253 days since he last scored in a UCL away fixture, the last instance of that happening being a 1-1 draw against Roma in the group stages of the 2015-'16 UCL. In fact, Suarez has scored only four times across all UCL games he has played since then and is yet to open an account for this season.

Due to these reasons, and due to Suarez' age woes that the star has himself acknowledged at a point, Barcelona have already arranged to look for some backup options, someone who might be able to fill the Uruguayan's boots from the upcoming seasons. Let us take a look at the top-3 choices that Barcelona seem to favour in this case, as of right now.

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#1 Luka Jovic (Eintracht Frankfurt)

The Frankfurt-based youngster has already taken the Bundesliga by storm, by virtue of his goalscoring numbers for the club this season. No one else has scored more times than Jovic's 14, and his added set of advantages include good pace, which would turn out to be lethal for any opposition when combined with the speed of Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi from either wings and Philippe Coutinho from midfield.

It was reported less than a week ago, that a lot of prestigious European Clubs are on the lookout for this Serbian starlet, and that Barcelona is on the front of this queue.

Luka Jovic is technically a Benfica player who is on loan to Frankfurt, but the German club has a "buy" option attached to the deal. Now that the player has attracted sufficient interest from many top-tier clubs, Frankfurt is definitely going to buy him from Benfica for a bargain sum, and Barca in turn will have to buy him from them.

#2 Timo Werner (RB Leipzig)

If Jovic is a rising star in the Bundesliga, Werner is a star that has already risen and has since continued to shine. The 23-year old German youngster plies his trade with RB Leipzig, the wonder club that rose through the ranks of German Leagues one by one before finding themselves in the top flight, even going on to attain a UCL berth last season.

Werner has so far been their prime goalscorer, racking up more than 55 goals and 20 assists in close to a hundred club appearances till date. In January 2019, RB Leipzig CEO Oliver Mintzlaff even said that there is a chance for Werner to leave the club next summer, immediately drawing the attention of fans and analysts and pundits worldwide. Werner was immediately linked with a move to the Catalan club, though there will be a lot of competition for his signature, from amongst the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Bayern Munich.

It is to be admitted that Barcelona is a bit of a departure from the style of play that Timo Werner is accustomed to in Germany, but age is well on his side, so is his ability to adapt to any changing conditions.

In the ongoing season, Werner is second behind Jovic in the Bundesliga goal-scoring charts, with 11 goals from 17 appearances.

#3 Mauro Icardi (Inter Milan)

Fans of the Blaugranas always love the potential return of any of their prodigal sons who may have swapped shores in the prospect of gaining fame and fortune in foreign pastures. Barcelona is also a club that rates its own academy culture very highly. That being said, a possibility of former La Masia graduate Mauro Icardi, would be enormous news in the club. Not to mention that the Argentine is one of the world's best strikers right now, also having operated at the highest level with his current club Inter Milan for quite some years now.

But as we all know, Icardi was well set and at home in Milan, but only until a few weeks ago. The captain of his side, Icardi even scored a goal against Barcelona as both teams came against each other in the San-Siro-fixture in the UCL group stages this year. But things haven't gone well for him as of late.

Icardi's agent and wife Wanda Nara (formerly his own teammate Maxi Lopez' wife - we all know that story) recently approached Inter's board of directors and asked for a huge pay rise for Mauro, lest he decides to quit the club. The threats had a reverse effect, as Icardi was dropped from the squad altogether, and Wanda was soon appearing in National television, begging and pleading to get him back to the squad.

Rumours have it that Icardi is currently not in good terms with Wanda after the above row, and has since brought together a group of representatives that will be looking for alternate options for the Argentine - Barcelona being one of them. It is yet to be seen as to how the club is interested, but this is not the first time that both groups have been linked together in the form of a potential transfer, so we never know.

Edited by Ben Roberts