Barcelona have agreed a deal to sell Ferran Torres to Paris Saint-Germain for €50m.
It means that, heading into the new season, the club will have parted ways with the two No 9s who were in the squad last term.
Yet with Torres and Robert Lewandowski gone, there has been no progress on a deal for Barcelona’s priority No 9 signing this summer, Julian Alvarez.
The deal is indeed now all but impossible. If the club are not able to bring in anyone else, there are a few ways Hansi Flick could work with the talent he currently has available.
Use Anthony Gordon or Karim Adeyemi
Barcelona signed Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi partly because of their ability to be flexible and play across the forward line.
Both have played there in the past for their former clubs. Gordon was used centrally by Newcastle last season when new signing Nick Woltemade was unavailable or still acclimatising. Adeyemi was also deployed as a striker at Borussia Dortmund.
There are two hitches to that plan. The first is that neither player particularly excelled in that role when they filled it. The deficiencies in their game were begging for a traditional striker.
The second was that Flick himself has appeared unconvinced by the idea of a flexible forward who can play across the front three. Marcus Rashford, for example, was touted for that ability last season when he was signed, yet never featured in that role for Barcelona.
He always played on the left or, on a few occasions, on the right. Flick continued to play either Lewandowski or Torres, appearing to prefer their talents mainly centre-forwards.
Dani Olmo, Fermin Lopez or Lamine Yamal
Flick could also consider using either one of Dani Olmo, Fermin Lopez or Lamine Yamal as a false No 9. All three have some experience in the role, and Yamal has suggested the possibility of operating centrally in future.
“I will end up playing there [in central spaces],” Yamal said in June. “When I’m on the wing, it’s easier for opponents to put three players on to mark me. But when you’re playing centrally, they can’t really do that. There are too many people in there.”
He has a similar profile to Lionel Messi, and Messi was moved from the wing to a central position by Pep Guardiola in 2009, kickstarting a period of incredible success.
Flick has previously acknowledged the possibility but said the immediate plan was to keep Yamal on the right.
“Yamal has already played one or two games for us more centrally,” Flick said this summer. “He is a fantastic player and certainly he can adapt into that, but the focus right now is a bit more on him being a right winger.”
