Deco lands in Lisbon, Benfica on alert: Barcelona eye Eagles starter | OneFootball

Deco traveled to Lisbon this Friday at a time when Barcelona are desperately trying to find a solution for the center-forward position. The Portuguese sporting director of the Catalan club has strengthening the attack as his priority and, given the difficulties in signing Julián Álvarez, is said to have placed Benfica’s Vangelis Pavlidis among the alternatives under consideration.

The trip was first reported by Catalan radio station RAC 1 and later confirmed by the newspaper SPORT. The executive is expected to hold a series of meetings related to the transfer market. Although the clubs or agents he will contact are not known, the trip comes at a decisive stage of the transfer window.

Pavlidis has emerged among the names linked with Barcelona as one of the possible solutions for the attack. The Greek Benfica striker is being mentioned as an alternative for the position expected to become available after Robert Lewandowski’s departure, while Sporting’s Luis Suárez has also been included on the list of potential candidates.

However, Suárez’s name is surrounded by doubt. Barcelona sources have reportedly denied any interest in the Colombian striker to the Spanish press, after his name was initially reported by Fabrizio Romano. As such, it remains unclear whether Deco’s trip is directly related to Pavlidis or to other targets the club is keeping on its shortlist.

Barcelona’s main objective remains Julián Álvarez, but negotiations with Atlético Madrid are stalled. Gil Marín is maintaining what is seen as an uncompromising stance regarding a transfer to the Catalan club, despite there already being openness to negotiate with Arsenal. Given this scenario, Barça intend to keep pushing for the Argentine until the end of the week, while Deco looks for alternatives in Lisbon.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.