Barcelona preparing swap deal involving €30 on-loan forward and Sporting sensation

Robert Lewandowski, at this point, is a strong contender for the best player of the season so far.

The Polish striker, after all, has been in sensational form and is leading the Pichichi race by a considerable distance. He is staring at a great season ahead and will have his contract renewed for one more year in all probability.

Given his age, however, Barcelona are also scouting the market for replacements and Sporting’s Viktor Gyokeres has emerged as a possible target on that front.

A barter deal in mind

Gyokeres has been in sensational form since joining Sporting and has scored 63 goals in 66 games for the club. He is valued at €100 million but the club could release him for between €60 to 70 million, and Barcelona are interested.

As revealed by SPORT, Deco has explored the possibility of signing the striker and sees him as a great option to take over the centre-forward duties in the long run. In fact, the club is already considering a possible barter to ease the economic burden.

Viktor Gyokeres is liked by Barcelona. (Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)

Barcelona see Vitor Roque to be a valuable asset who could be traded with Sporting to reduce the asking price for Gyokeres. The Brazilian is adapting well to European football on loan to Real Betis and could reduce the transfer fee by close to €30 million if included.

Interestingly, the Portuguese club was interested in signing Roque just last summer for the aforementioned amount but the player rejected the move as he only wanted to go out on loan.

Should Gyokeres to Barcelona become a serious possibility, Roque would perfectly fill the void created in Sporting’s setup as well and thus benefit all parties included. 

It remains to be seen how seriously Barcelona pursue the young Swedish striker’s signing come June, especially given the serious competition that is expected from clubs in England.

Yet, if the economic situation improves as anticipated and the player swap works out, they can look to bring in an established and clinical striker for a budget price.

Player valuation in the title obtained from transfermarkt.com on the date of publication.