By Amosu Adeboye, Lagos
Spanish giants Barcelona are looking to sign Samuel Chukwueze from Villarreal as replacement for their underperforming Brazilian star Phillipe Coutinho.
Chukwueze, 19, has enjoyed an impressive debut season with the Yellow Submarines since breaking into the club’s first team. He has scored eight goals in 38 appearances across all competitions.
He has earned recognition from all over Europe and is expected to go for a high price.
Nevertheless, Barcelona according to a report in Don Ballon will make a move for him provided that they sell Coutinho first.
Moreover, Chukwueze might consider signing for a club where he gets regular game time, with both Ousmane Dembele and Malcom bound to be ahead of him at Camp Nou.
The youngster rejected the chance to represent Nigeria at the FIFA U -20 World Cup this month instead opting to feature for the Super Eagles at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
Former African footballer of the year award winner Emmanuel Amuneke and Gbenga Okunowo are the Nigerians to have played for the Blaugrana.
Barcelona’s season came to a jolting stop when they were dumped out of the UEFA Champions League by Liverpool. As a result, the Blaugrana have decided to cut ties with several underperforming players, with one of them being Coutinho.
Philippe Coutinho joined Barcelona for Liverpool back in January 2018, for a club record €120 Million.
However, the Brazilian has so far failed to impress the Camp Nou crowd and is constantly in and out of the team.
