Barcelona: 3 potential replacements for Luis Suarez

FC Barcelona collapsed to a 4-0 loss against a rampant Liverpool side at the Anfield and were eliminated from the Champions League. Despite a poor performance at the Camp Nou, Barcelona rode on Leo Messi's clinical performance to leave Liverpool trailing by three goals. However, failure to net against Liverpool at Anfield cost the Spanish club a place in the finals.

That brings us to Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan striker is past his prime and has lost a lot of paces. His work ethic cannot be questioned but his finishing, eye for goal, ability to dribble defenders, and act as a target #9 for long balls, are looking as they should for a striker past his time.

With the standards that the Catalans set for themselves, which is a treble in all seasons, Suarez's standards won't help. He had already missed 24 big chances by February and coincidentally Messi created 25 big chances by that time.

Since Luis Suarez is not up to his mark anymore, we look at three players who Barcelona should immediately target in the summer transfer window.

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#3 Timo Werner

RB Salzburg v RB Leipzig - UEFA Europa League - Group B

Timo Werner plays his football in Bundesliga club, RB Leipzig. He is still only 23 years old and has already scored 16 goals while providing 7 assists in Bundesliga. Werner, at his age, has an astute understanding of the game, where to roam, where not to.

He is an insanely quick player, highly mobile, and possesses a crazy amount of pace and accelerates within seconds, with or without the ball. He is always looking for open spaces and looking where to run into and times his runs to perfection. Another aspect of Werner that makes him useful for Barcelona is his participation in the build-up.

While at the German National Team, Low forces his strikers to come in a little deeper to provide passing options and surpass pressure. Werner is also quite good at picking out the best passing option while being in a deeper position. So being a good passer, dribbler, good off the ball mover, why not do it at the Camp Nou pitch?

The last German to patrol the pitch of Camp Nou was Bernd Schuster and Werner will have a German ally in goalkeeper Marc ter-Stegen.

#2 Antoine Griezmann

RCD Espanyol v Club Atletico de Madrid - La Liga

Surprisingly enough, Antoine Griezmann is under Barcelona's radar again. There are reports surfacing about Barcelona trying to land the Frenchman as part of their post-debacle revolution. There is a lot of doubt about how the Camp Nou faithful will actually react to this. As far as we recall, he was booed out of his ears at the Camp Nou.

But on the bright side, he is a world-class player and he eliminates the need for sacrificing Suarez's experience and big-game prowess. Griezmann already knows what it is like to be on the biggest stages and he has played the World Cup Final, the Champions League Final, and the Euro Cup final.

He is the potent weapon for Atletico Madrid upfront and he creates and scores effortlessly despite the defensive style employed at the club. He has scored 15 goals and has created 9 assists in 35 games this season. Barcelona desperately needs a finisher up front who would not mess chances up. Messi creates, Griezmann scores, this needs to be the new trend.

#1 Alexandre Lacazette

Arsenal FC v Brighton & Hove Albion - Premier League

Another Frenchman and this one is a shocker for Arsenal fans. The Arsenal Player of the Year for this season is linked with FC Barcelona according to sources. The price to bring the Frenchman to Camp Nou is reported to be £70 million.

This is a disaster for Arsenal but the silver lining comes with the price tag. Arsenal can actually use the revenue they generate to bolster weak spots. It remains to be seen if Arsenal is willing to let go of their talisman but clubs these days have little to no power to hold on to their player. Lacazette has been banging in goals for Arsenal with 13 goals and 8 assists for in the Premier League. He has also got 4 goals in the Europa League.

Lacazette has an unreal partnership with Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and he could form a more lethal one with his French teammate Ousmane Dembele. If things go well and Lacazette joins Barcelona, then Dembele-Messi-Lacazette seems one of the more dangerous trios in Europe.