By all odds, Robert Lewandowski should be the leader of Barcelona’s attack next season as well, but the question of his alternative arises. It was supposed to be the young Brazilian Vitor Roque, whom the Catalans paid as much as 45 million euros, but he did not fit in well. The previous coach, Xavi, lost confidence in him and demanded that the club send him on loan, which was an insult to sports director Deco, who felt personally responsible for spending a lot of money on the transfer of the Brazilian in the midst of the financial crisis. Now, it is up to the new coach Hansi Flick to assess Roque’s situation, but there are high chances that he will have similar demands as Xavi. Simply put, Barca didn’t have the same luck with Roque as Real did with Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo. There is also the youngster Marc Gui, who made his debut last season and showed some potential, but the Catalan media state that the club needs a more concrete solution. Something similar to what Real got with the experienced Joselu. And Barca found a target of a similar profile.Barça are tracking Borja Mayoral, and will attempt to sign him if Vitor Roque leaves. The Spaniard ended the season with 16 G/A for Getafe, the most of any Spaniard this season. — @diarioas pic.twitter.com/TpdyAjUx7m— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) June 8, 2024 Namely, Blaugrana is seriously interested in signing Getafe’s Borja Mayoral. Up until March, Mayoral was the most effective Spanish striker in La Liga, but then he suffered a knee injury and missed the ultimate part of the season. Despite the injury, he still finished the season as the most effective Spaniard in the league, along with Atletico’s Alvaro Morata, as both scored 15 goals. But Mayoral managed to do it by playing five games less.Laporta aims dig at Real, talks about Mbappe and Xavi’s dismissalThis was the most successful season of his career and the first with a double-digit number of goals, and no wonder he drew Barca’s attention. Mayoral is a child of Real Madrid, he moved through all the youth categories, the B team, even spent two seasons in the first team as a back-up player and scored seven goals in 33 matches. But, he did not convince the Royal Club’s management that he was up to the task and mostly spent time on loans at Wolfsburg, Levante, Roma and eventually Getafe, which bought him two years ago for 10 million euros.##NAJAVA_MECA_8148111##At the club from Estadio Coliseum, they had confidence in Mayoral, and he repaid them with consistency and his best career season. Mayoral’s contract expires in 2027 and is worth 4.7 million euros annually, which makes him the highest-paid player in the team. Getafe will surely ask for more money than they invested in the 27-year-old’s purchase, so this would not be a low-cost operation for Barca, compared to Real’s with Joselu. Admittedly, Mayoral is seven years younger than Los Blancos’ striker and could represent a long-term solution.
