Barcelona have set their sights on securing the free transfer of Napoli attacker Dries Mertens, and it’s a transfer which showcases how far the mighty have fallen.
According to Spanish outlet Fichajes, Mertens is on the radar of Spanish giants Barcelona, with the Blaugrana looking to add him to their squad in order to improve their attacking options on the cheap.
While Mertens is a good player in his own right, boasting a very respectable tally of 240 goals and 179 assists in 665 senior games, including 230 goal contributions in 379 games in a Napoli shirt, signing him on a free contract is not the type of signing a club of Barca’s stature would typically dabble with.
That being said, Mertens is reportedly wanted as a squad player and this makes sense considering the other options within the squad at the present moment.
Poor recruitment for a number of years have led the club to both financially ruin and ruin on the pitch.
Strikers Martin Braithwaite and Luuk de Jong are no where close to the standard needed for the club to compete for the type of silverware they want to win.
The likes of Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe are likely to venture elsewhere when transfers away from their current clubs come calling and considering Barcelona are currently struggling to confirm their place in the Champions League next year it is looking worse and worse with regards to the overall damage done to the club across the last few years.