Southampton Ready to Offer €20m for Out of Favour Barcelona Striker Paco Alcacer

Southampton are reportedly willing to offer €20m (£17.6m) for out of favour Barcelona striker as the Saints look to bring more goals to St. Mary's after narrowly avoiding relegation in 2017/18 and finishing the season as the Premier League's sixth lowest scorers.

Rumours regarding Southampton interest in Alcacer initially surfaced way back in October when it was said that French side Lille were also keeping an eye on the Spaniard.

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According to Mundo Deportivo, the Saints are willing to part with more than £17m to land the 24-year-old Spaniard, a sizeable figure for a club whose record transfer stands at £19m.

It would appear that Southampton so far remain in the enquiry stage as MD notes that Barcelona are yet to receive anything that could be considered a 'concrete proposal'. There may well be competition as Turkish giants Fenerbahce are tipped to make an offer 'sooner or later'.

For now, it is said that Alcacer, who arrived at Camp Nou from Valencia in 2016 for €30m, is not interested in leaving the club. Barcelona, however, still seem him as 'transferable' and would be looking to move him on in order to raise funds for new signings.

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After scoring 43 times in all competitions during a three-year breakout spell, Alcacer's record at Barcelona has been generally poor. He's scored just 15 goals in two seasons, with regular chances unsurprisingly rare when he is behind Luis Suarez in the pecking order.

Alcacer's only La Liga goals last season came when he started games, with the Spanish international actually scoring four times in the eight league games in which he was named in the line up. He also netted in two Copa del Rey starts and in his only Champions League start.

It suggests that a club like Southampton, who would offer him much more regular football, could potentially reap significant rewards. The first step, however, is to convince him that his future actually lies away from Barcelona and Camp Nou.