Barça target Getafe striker Angel as Luis Suarez, Dembele cover
Getafe sporting director Ángel Martín has said the Azulones are prepared to lose their top scorer if Barcelona come calling, but no contact has been made yet.
Barcelona are reportedly eyeing a move for Getafe’s top scorer Ángel Rodríguez after Ousmane Dembélé was ruled out for the season and with Luis Suárez unlikely to make a return until May at least.
Barça are able to sign a player from LaLiga as an emergency replacement for Dembélé, who has a tear in his hamstring that will keep him out for the remainder of the 2019-20 campaign, but the club will take the opportunity to sign another striker with the absence of Suárez leaving Setién without a reference point in attack. In fact, with Dembélé out, the Barça boss only has two senior attacking players of any kind, Leo Messi and Antoine Griezmann, as well as the youthful exuberance of Ansu Fati to call upon.
Griezmann used to operare as a centre forward for Atlético but has been more often deployed out wide to accommodate Suárez but the Frenchman could be used in a more central role by Setién depending on who Barça are able to get through the door. Certainly, the club’s recruitment has been centred around an out-and-out striker, but moves for Valencia’s Rodrigo and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang did not bear fruit.
Barça target Ángel Rodríguez
Cédric Bakambu has been mentioned as a potential solution but Barça have also set their sights closer to home and see Rodríguez, 32, as a very viable alternative and Getafe sporting director Ángel Martín has confirmed that the third-placed Liga side are bracing for a bid: “We are prepared to lose him. We have not heard anything from FC Barcelona about this reported interest, we only know what we have seen in the press. At the moment there is absolutely nothing, from Barcelona or from the player’s agent. It’s something we have no control over. We’ll wait and see. I’d prefer him to stay here with us, he’s a player who I’ve had at Osasuna and Zaragoza.”