Although Barcelona have the unwelcome distraction of trying to resolve the Lionel Messi situation, Ronald Koeman still needs to work quickly to shape his team for next season.
One of Barca’s biggest problems in recent years has been the age of the squad, so they need to replace several first team stars and bring the average age of the team down.
One of the first priorities will be to replace Luis Suarez who is now 33 and very injury prone, but finding a top quality number 9 isn’t easy and it certainly won’t be cheap.
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Gianluca Di Marzio have reported that Barca are hoping to sign Moussa Dembele from Lyon, and it’s a move that could make a lot of sense.
They suggest that the contact between the club and Dembele is actually going through Henrik Larsson – someone who will know Dembele well after the time he spent at Celtic.
It’s also worth noting that The Scotsman reported on an interview when Dembele first arrived at Celtic, and he spoke about looking to emulate Larsson so there’s clearly a lot of respect between the two.
While there’s no suggestion that Dembele will be cheap, Lyon are under some financial pressure after Ligue 1 was ended early last season, while they also failed to qualify for Europe this season.
They may have banked some money from their run to the Champions League semi final, but a report from Goal confirmed that their Sporting Director has confirmed that Dembele will probably leave this summer.
The French striker has been prolific at all of his clubs but he’s improved his all round game in recent years too, so he could be an excellent signing for Koeman.