Luis Suarez’s summer departure from Barcelona to Atletico Madrid has impacted the Catalans a lot more than the plausible departure of Messi next summer

Barcelona’s Luis Suarez, the third all-time top-scorer of the club, had his contract terminated in the summer of 2020 and subsequently completed a shock move to Atletico Madrid. Since then, Barcelona face a serious issue upfront as their main goal-scorer has settled down well at his new club leaving Barca in the dust.

It was expected that Antoine Griezmann would take the reigns upfront and would be played in the centre to score plenty of goals. Lionel Messi‘s decision to continue despite wanting out assured the club some hope upfront as well. However, Griezmann nor Messi have turned up so far but the 18-year-old Ansu Fati has stepped up on several occasions.

In fact, the Frenchman and the Argentine have barely been of much use lately to the squad. Leo Messi is yet to score a goal that has come from open play this season as all of his goals have come from the spot-kick. It speaks volumes about how poor the 33-year-old has been given his flamboyant goal-scoring record.

Ronald Koeman himself is very much aware of how desperately the club requires a striker that can score goals since his other forwards continue to squander chances. However, given the current financial state and the verge of bankruptcy, the chances of signing a number 9 seem slim.