This is an interesting story, coughed up by Spanish daily Marca (via TEAMtalk)…
They are suggesting that Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde wants Bayer Leverkusen winger Julian Brandt, who was heavily linked to Liverpool before we plumped for Mo Salah over the summer.
The young German racks up less impressive numbers than our Egyptian, but at 21, already shows more technical ability and probably has a higher potential ceiling, too.
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In the Marca report, it’s mooted that Brandt could be a long-term replacement for Luis Suarez, whose level has dropped this term. In six games, he’s scored just twice and registered one assist – which is below par for a player of his world-class standard.
Marca rate Brandt at €70m, which in this day and age, is probably only a little above what you’d expect considering the barbaric fees spent on average players this summer just gone.
At 30 though, we really don’t think Suarez is past his best by any means. He’s not a player who’s ever relied on pace, so he should have a few more years left at the very top.
Brandt’s promising, but he shouldn’t really be mentioned in comparison to the Uruguayan.
That’s like when Liverpool tried to replace Xabi Alonso with Gareth Barry…
Having said that, if Valverde does want to offload the forward and bring in the young German, we’ll welcome Suarez back with open arms!