Luis Suarez turns 32 in January and that means that Barcelona need to start thinking about who will replace the former Liverpool forward in the coming years. They've already put together a seven man shortlist.
No one is writing Luis Suarez off yet. The Barcelona forward is still an extremely important part of Barcelona's first XI and was on the scoresheet on Sunday evening as Ernesto Valverde's side beat Levante 5-0.
The win kept Barca top of the table, leading Sevilla and Atletico Madrid by three points, and took revenge for the La Liga champions only league defeat of last season.
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He may be nearer the end of his career than the beginning but Suarez is hardly slowing down just yet. The former Liverpool forward has bagged 11 goals in 15 league games so far this season.
Over the last few years Barca have worked towards making their squad younger as stalwarts of the team have begun to get towards the back end of their careers, with the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Javier Mascherano leaving.
With Suarez being nearly 32 the club have, according to Mundo Deportivo, written up a seven man shortlist of strikers to replace him. Ajax's Kasper Dolberg and RB Leipzig's Timo Werner top the list.
Behind the top targets are Celta's Maxi Gomez, Suarez's fellow Uruguay, Geona's Krzysztof Piatek Benfica's Luka Jovic, currently on loan at Frankfurt, Lille's Nicolas Pepe and AC Milan's Andre Silva, currently on loan at Sevilla.
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At 23 Andre Silva and Piatek are the two oldest players on the shortlist but all of the strikers have been amongst the goals in the past couple of seasons.
It further proves the Catalan giants desire to bring in younger players with the aim to bring in the next generation of their team.
As well as the fact that Suarez is getting older there is also the issue of a knee injury. Twice the Uruguayan has had time out of the team this season to rest his issue.
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Barca will be hoping to add someone who can play when Suarez is out, when they need both to play together and ultimately to replace the former Ajax forward.
It'll be interesting to see which striker they end up signing.
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