Arsenal set to beat Barcelona in race for star striker

To much despair, Barcelona’s attacking woes seem to continue, with reports from El Nacional suggesting that Joan Laporta has lost the race to sign in-demand Vlahovic from Fiorentina to London club Arsenal.

Unsurprisingly, La Blaugrana have long been in the market to reinforce their quality up front, with the current front three not quite being attackers to begin with.

A host of injury problems coupled with the departures of Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann and quite possibly Ousmane Dembele has meant that the finishing capacity of the club has, for long, suffered.

As such, the club have been on the lookout for a number 9 ever since the departure of Luis Suarez. Despite Joan Laporta reportedly being in love with the idea of having Erling Haaland at the club, the operation is naturally far from easy. Therefore, Barcelona have been in contact with potential second options, and one such name is Dusan Vlahovic.

Quick, clinical, efficient, Vlahovic has been an absolute joy to watch for Fiorentina, which has expectedly put him on the radar of top European clubs. His departure at the end of the season is virtually confirmed; the Serbian has announced his desire to leave the club and refused Fiorentina’s proposed extension. With his contract expiring in 2023, the Italian club would be foolish to not cash in at the onset of the 2022/23 season. 

Allegedly, Laporta has been in contact with the striker’s agents for a while alongside a number of other clubs, including Dortmund, who see the 21-year-old as their Haaland replacement.

Despite this, the Premier League remains the Serbian’s priority, with Arsenal at pole position to sign him this summer.

This would reportedly prove to be a remarkable financial commitment, seeing as the Gunners would have to shell out £150 million to secure his signature. In any case, the 21-year-old is seemingly most convinced by Arsenal’s offer.

That said, he will reportedly only make his decision in June at the end of the season since Champions League football is his target, and Arsenal, although in 4th place, cannot guarantee a top 4 finish in January. 

This is potentially bad news for Barcelona since it strikes off a highly promising young attacker from joining their ranks. The Blaugrana are suffering their worst attacking season in the last seven years and blatantly need to reinforce their front line. By the looks of it, Vlahovic is not the remedy to Barcelona’s problems.

Perhaps a certain Norwegian is?