5 players Barcelona could target in the summer

Although FC Barcelona won La Liga handily in 2018-19, they will be disappointed that they couldn’t capture the Champions League title after falling to Liverpool’s furious second-leg comeback.

With the insane season Lionel Messi had, it is a shock that FC Barcelona weren’t able to win the Champions League in addition to La Liga.

Furthermore, Barcelona will also be kicking themselves after losing 2-1 to Valencia CF in the Cope del Rey finals, preventing them from even capturing a domestic double.

There’s no doubt that Barcelona are still one of the world’s best clubs, but they must be vigilant in shoring up their weaknesses this summer.

Now that Lionel Messi is 31 and Luis Suarez is 32, Barcelona don’t have many more years where their two best attackers are in their primes, and while players like Ousmane Dembele will be among the world’s best in a few years, Barcelona surely won’t be complacent this summer.

As always, the goal is perfection, and that means capturing a treble.

Here are five possible transfer targets for Barca this summer as they look to win the Champions League after previously winning the competition in 2014.

Matthijs de Ligt

Linked to pretty much every top club in the world, Ajax center back Matthijs de Ligt would be a massive upgrade for Manchester United and would also fit in nicely at City, PSG, or Juventus.

However, Barcelona could be the favorites to land the youngster’s signature, as they hold plenty of cachet and excel at developing center backs.

Of course, Barcelona are already loaded at the position with Clement Lenglet, Samuel Umtiti, and veteran Gerard Pique. Of those three players, only the 32-year-old Pique is over 25, so de Ligt could be the ideal replacement for the Spanish superstar who is still going strong.

As good as Lenglet and Umtiti are, de Ligt looks like the best of those three center backs and is just 19 years old. It is rare for a player at his age to have his consistency, quality, and leadership as a defender.

De Ligt checks off all the boxes as a center back, and he stole the show in the Champions League as Ajax made it all the way to the semifinals before falling in the 96th minute to Lucas Moura’s strike.

Barcelona have already reached an agreement for stud midfielder Frenkie de Jong, but since de Ligt is three years younger and plays at a position where top stars are hard to find, he’d be an even bigger catch for the Catalan club.