Chelsea beat Barcelona to the signing of 22-year-old striker admired by Deco

On Friday, Chelsea announced that they have reached an agreement to sign striker Emanuel Emegha from RC Strasbourg for next season.

The Dutch footballer will remain in Ligue 1 for the ongoing campaign before making the move to the Premier League to join the Blues in the summer of 2026.

Barcelona had their eyes on Emaneul Emegha

Now, SPORT has revealed that Emegha was one of the profiles admired by Deco to fill the centre-forward position at Barcelona.

The Blaugrana will soon have to enter the market to find a long-term replacement for Robert Lewandowski, who recently turned 37 years old, and has a contract that expires in 2026.

Big names like Julian Alvarez, Erling Haaland, and Alexander Isak have been linked but appear out of reach for various reasons.

As such, it has now emerged that Emegha was one of the players that the Catalans’ sporting director, Deco, admired as an option.

At 22 years old, standing 1.96 metres tall, he enjoyed a strong last season in the French league, scoring 14 goals and providing three assists in 27 matches, improving from his debut campaign in 2023/24. This term, he already has three goals in four games in all competitions.

Barcelona, thus, had their eyes on the Dutchman, but have now missed out on Emegha, as he is headed to Chelsea.

Deco’s plans

As previously reported, this season will almost certainly be the last for Lewandowski as a Barcelona player. Several names have been linked as replacements. However, Deco is fully aware of the difficulties the club faces in the transfer market.

Under these circumstances, the plan is to maximise the resources already available at Hansi Flick’s disposal. This involves giving more responsibility to Ferran Torres.

The sporting management will monitor the market, but the plan is to trust the Spaniard to continue growing in that role.

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