Why Mesut Ozil would be an ideal signing for Barcelona

Mesut Ozil would be a more than welcome to Barcelona. Although the Camp Nou giants are topping La Liga with 35 out of a possible 39 points and have qualified for the next round of the Champions League with a game to spare, it is clear that the overall quality of the team upfront has decreased this season – with the departure of Neymar and the struggling Luis Suarez being the key reasons.

When questioned about potential signings, Barca’s president Josep Maria Bartomeu explained: “We are happy with our squad, but we believe we can improve in January. We think there will be opportunities to improve and strengthen in the winter market and as we are Barca, we always have to look for ways to improve. We want to win every trophy we are in – La Liga, Copa del Rey, the Champions League – and perhaps the squad needs a little more to achieve such a feat.”

With Liverpool highly unlikely to agree to part ways with Philippe Coutinho for less that €150 million, it is not surprising that Barcelona officials have turned their attention elsewhere – despite the 25-year-old Brazilian clearly being more of a long-term option and, on paper, the best candidate for the current vacancy.

While Ozil would not be a direct replacement for either Neymar or Luis Suarez, the current Arsenal star would add much-needed creativity, vision and experience to Barcelona’s attack. Ernesto Valverde has been effective when making substitutions during games so far but, unless reinforcements are brought in January, it is likely that his impressive run will run out soon.

Given his apparent refusal to renew his current contract at Arsenal, Barcelona have set their sights on securing the services of Ozil, and rightly so. As we discussed in far more depth in our podcast, adding a quality player of such calibre for a mere €20M is an opportunity that should certainly not be missed. Here’s why:

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