Old Boy Hughes Could Look To Barcelona Striker

Mark Hughes could be looking to raid his old club Barcelona this summer which will see a little bit of deja vu in the situation for the Saints manager.

Mark Hughes signed for Barcelona back in 1986 but his only season at the club was not successful and with opportunities limited he spent the following season at Bayern Munich before rejoining Manchester United for season 1988/89.

So it is likely that Hughes will draw some comparisons with the situation of Paco Alcacer who like Hughes has struggled to make a true impact at the Campa Nou.

Alcacer signed to Barcelona from Valencia for a fee of around 30 million euros 2 years ago, but has played only 38 times in the Spanish league for Barca in that time scoring 10 goals.

In style he is very much in the mould of Manolo Gabbiadini standing at 5ft 9 inches and although predominantly a central striker he can also play out wide.

How much he will cost is open for debate, it will certainly be less that the 30 million euros the 24 year old cost two years ago, so somewhere around £20 million would be a reasoned guess.

From the players who are being linked with the club it seems that there is likely to be a big reshuffle not only in the midfield but also the attack, the question is will Hughes change the playing style drastically or perhaps look to play two up front with Alcacer playing off a target man.

I would not rule out Guido Carrillo being that man, he showed at Burnley and West Brom last season that he can create goals for others and bring them into play, desperation after Hughes arrived forced him into using the tried and trusted up front, but goals were still hard to come by due to both good chances created and also in converting them.

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