Barcelona will be left with big shoes to fill with as their living legend Andres Iniesta will be departing from the club at the end of the season. Barcelona has secured a double this season as they have won the La Liga title comfortably and thrashed Sevilla 5-0 in the Copa Del Rey finals.
According to reports, they have zeroed in on former Liverpool player Luis Alberto to fill Iniesta’s big boots. Alberto is considered as a flop signing for the Reds as he made just nine appearances for them in the Premier League and failed to cope with the physical demands of English football. When the Merseyside club signed him, he was touted as one of the best young talents in Europe and a technically gifted footballer.
He currently plies his trade for the Serie A outfit Lazio and was previously part of Barcelona B team whom he joined on loan from Sevilla. He has certainly improved his game over time, especially in the last two years and has become an instrumental player for the Rome outfit.
Barcelona invested heavily in the last two transfer windows as they brought in Ousmane Dembele and Phillipe Coutinho. Coutinho was added to the squad keeping in mind Iniesta’s fading abilities and he was expected to replace him. However, Coutinho has turned out to be an able replacement for Neymar who left the Blaugrana last summer for a world record fee to Paris Saint Germain.
Dembele has found it tough to establish himself in the side. To be fair, he was unlucky to be injured when the season was about to begin. Since then he is still trying to find his feet at the Nou Camp. On the other hand, Coutinho has slipped into the team like he was always meant to play with the Catalonia outfit. He usually plays in Neymar’s position i.e left wing. However, he doesn’t play like a traditional winger who hugs the bylines and crosses for his team-mates. Instead, Coutinho likes to cut outside on his right foot and make space for himself in the centre of the pitch to influence the play from there.
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So now Barcelona are in the hunt to find an out-and-out replacement for Iniesta and they might make a move for Alberto. It could be a shrewd piece of business as he is likely to come in cheap and even if he doesn’t match their expectations, he won’t put a big hole in Barcelona’s pocket. On top of that, he has already got a good experience of playing in the Spanish division so this could end up as a smart move for the Spanish Champions.
