FC Barcelona are keen to sign Borussia Dortmund left-back Raphael Guerreiro, who has only a year left on his contract with the Bundesliga giants.
The Catalan club believe the Portuguese full-back would provide serious competition to Jordi Alba for a position in the starting XI, according to a report from the Spanish-based outlet Diario Sport.
Guerreiro was on Barcelona’s radar back in 2016, but preferred a move to Dortmund over playing time concerns at the Camp Nou.
The 25-year-old managed 6 goals and 6 assists in 32 games in all competitions this past season.
Is Raphael Guerreiro a good option for Barcelona?
Guerreiro who is a versatile player, who can feature as a left-back or a left-sided midfielder, and also has the ability to play in a central midfield role.
The Portuguese’s strengths are making the forward forays as he is quite good at stretching play, much like current Barcelona first-choice left-back Alba.
Guerreiro managed an average pass accuracy of 86.2% and 1.5 key passes per game, which shows his passing is solid for him to fit in at Camp Nou. He also managed 1.1 dribbles and 1.3 shots per game this past season, numbers that indicate he like going forward and test his luck in front of goal.
Much like Alba, Guerreiro also stands in at 170cm tall and isn’t the best equipped when it comes to aerial duels. He won a mere 0.4 aerial duels per game across all competitions in the recently concluded campaign.
The Dortmund full-back did receive a bit of criticism for his defending as well. He averaged just, 0.8 clearances, 0.9 tackles and a single tackle per 90 minutes over the course of the 2018/19 season.
Barcelona should not move in hastily for the 25-year-old, and must carefully assess other targets. Moving in for the likes of Filipe Luis (who will be a free agent come the end of the month) or Alberto Moreno or even promoting an academy product makes much more sense, seeing Alba still has many years left in him.
The Blaugrana should only move in for Guerreiro in case they can convince Dortmund to let go of the Portuguese for a cheaper price.
Stat Courtesy: Transfermarkt, Whoscored
