With just under two weeks left of the summer transfer window, Barcelona's dreams of signing Atlético Madrid striker Julián Álvarez look over. On top of that, the club released Robert Lewandowski, who joined Chicago Fire at the end of his contract, and sanctioned Ferran Torres' €50 million departure to Paris Saint-Germain.
Anthony Gordon (€70 million from Newcastle United) and Karim Adeyemi (€22 million from Borussia Dortmund) have arrived, but the club still need to sign an attacking player -- or two -- and fast, otherwise they risk going into the season counting on a youth product, a teenager or a winger out of position up front until at least January. For a team that expect to win a third straight LaLiga title, that is simply not good enough.
Outside of Alvarez, Barcelona looked at other targets this summer, but none have proved attainable. Harry Kane is staying firmly put at Bayern Munich, João Pedro has signed a new contract at Chelsea until 2032, while hopes of signing AFC Bournemouth's Junior Kroupi were dashed when he broke a metatarsal over the summer.
So, with the clock ticking, who could Barça turn to?
Who could Barcelona pick instead of Julián Álvarez? Getty Images What kind of forward is needed? The first part of any scouting process is to establish what's required. Barcelona need a striker, sure, but what kind of style? And which specific attributes do they need?
Naturally, the player in question should be a reliable goal scorer. Lewandowski and Torres shared the No. 9 spot last season and combined for 30 LaLiga goals. Given the goal-scoring ability elsewhere in the team (Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo and Raphinha, for example) it is not imperative the new man should hit such a number, but he should be productive and a benchmark of 15 goals and/or assists is an absolute minimum.