Why is it so difficult for Barcelona to sign a forward? And do they even need one, after all?
These are two legitimate questions to ask as the club's prolonged search for someone to supplement the "MSN" trident of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar threatens to descend into farce. High profile targets Nolito and Luciano Vietto have each rejected moves to the Camp Nou in the past month, and Kevin Gameiro looks set to do the same, while the club have also flirted with Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Barbosa, Ousmane Dembele and Hatem Ben Arfa but signed none of them.
According to Sport, Barca have a list of 36 potential forwards they are looking at, from genuine stars such as Mauro Icardi and Alexandre Lacazette, to young but unproven hopefuls like Ayoze Perez and Borja Baston, to veterans Radamel Falcao and Robin van Persie. There also appears to be no consistency in the type of forward Barca want to sign, given they are looking at target men and wide forwards. Quite frankly, it seems Barca want to sign a forward for the sake of it.
When you have Neymar, Suarez and Messi scoring 131 goals between them last season and 122 the year before, it is easy to wonder why the club are investing so much energy into strengthening in attack. Nonetheless, the club has made it clear they would like to sign a player who could have the same effect Henrik Larsson did when he joined Barcelona from Celtic in 2004 just a month before his 33rd birthday. The Swede made just 20 starts in his two seasons at Camp Nou but had huge influence on the team's fortunes whenever he came off the bench, famously engineering the turnaround against Arsenal in the 2006 Champions League final.
Barca were on the verge of getting the ideal candidate for this role when they tried to sign Nolito in January, but they refused to meet Celta Vigo's asking price because they did not want to increase the club's debt ratio.
Barca's failure to snap up Nolito when he was within their grasp makes their arduous search for a forward all the more frustrating. Yet it should be little wonder why so many players are thinking twice about moving to Camp Nou.
Barca's sporting director Robert Fernandez has failed to grasp that,as evidenced by his pointed message to the likes of Vietto and Gameiro this week.
"If I had a son who was a footballer in this situation I'd tell him to say 'yes,' I'd tell him he'd be making a mistake in not coming to Barca," Fernandez said.
"If you come here you'll learn a lot and you will get opportunities. You have to be ready to learn. If you are humble and responsive, sooner or later you will get your opportunity."
But who can seriously blame Gameiro and Vietto for turning Barca down?
Gameiro, 29, has waited his entire career to have a season like he did last campaign, when he fired in 29 goals in all competitions and scored in every round of Sevilla's run to a third successive Europa League triumph. Why would he then go and sit on the Camp Nou bench to watch Neymar, Messi and Suarez run riot on the pitch in front of him?
Vietto is in a very different situation, aged 22 and still with his whole career ahead of him. The Argentine looked to be one of the most promising young forwards around after a sensational season with Villarreal, but has gone backwards at Atletico Madrid, starting just 12 league games and scoring just one goal last season. If Vietto could not win a place in the team ahead of Fernando Torres, what hope does he have in getting minutes when MSN are in his way?
After failing to bring in any of their top three targets, perhaps it is time for Barcelona to call off their search for a forward altogether. Luis Enrique's side did not fare too badly last season when one of the three forwards was missing -- they won seven out of eight games when Messi was out with a knee injury -- and neither the Argentine nor Neymar nor Suarez take kindly to being rotated or substituted.
The team's dramatic collapse in form last April highlighted the need to improve the squad, and the club have done that, bringing in Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Digne, Denis Suarez and Andre Gomes -- hopefully limiting the chances of another sudden nose dive in form next season.
Barca have the best strikeforce in the world and an able academy graduate in Munir El Haddadi to call upon when needed. There is no need to tear their hair out trying to find another forward just for the sake of signing one.