After a Five-Goal Season Debut, Do Barcelona Really Need a Striker?
Without a senior center forward in the squad and without a natural striker playing a single minute, Barcelona started their 2026–27 La Liga title defense with a dominant 5–0 thrashing of Elche on Sunday night.
Barcelona started the season devoid of their top two strikers of the Hansi Flick era. Robert Lewandowski dropped the curtain on his memorable Barcelona career in May and Ferran Torres followed when he pushed for a move to European champions Paris Saint-Germain earlier in August.
Signing a world class striker was Barcelona’s main priority even before Torres’s departure and Atlético Madrid forward Julián Alvarez has long been the dream target. But Los Rojiblancos have made Barça’s pursuit of the Argentine essentially impossible, refusing to even engage in negotiations. So far, the Catalans haven’t seriously considered a plan B in the open market.
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Without their pair of senior strikers from last term and no new reinforcements at the position, Barcelona still scored five goals from seven shots on target and created nine big chances in their season opener. Raphinha—who was deployed in the No. 9 role—and Fermín López each scored two and summer signings Karim Adeyemi and Anthony Gordon had a goal and two assists combined.
It was a near flawless attacking display from a team that’s clearly still knocking off rust.
But if Barcelona can be that devastating out of the starting gate, how much better can they be when all the pieces are in play? More importantly, is signing a striker truly that important given how deadly Barça’s attack already seems to be?
Barcelona Following a Paris Saint-Germain Approach
Barcelona haven’t signed a striker this summer, but they did spend north of $100 million on two natural wingers with the versatility to play all over the front line: Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi.
Adding them to Barcelona’s existing superstar wing-duo of Raphinha and Lamine Yamal gives Flick the ability to deploy a fluid, energetic and lightning fast attack. Apart from Yamal, the other three wingers also press high incessantly, a staple of the German coach’s style.
With the profiles in place, Barça could very well field an attack similar to the one that Luis Enrique has assembled with Paris Saint-Germain over the past two seasons.
The Parisians have won the last two Champions League titles with a front-three made up of three natural wingers, with former Barcelona wide-man, Ousmane Dembélé, often leading the line centrally but with the freedom to swap positions with fellow forwards Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Raphinha has the traits to thrive in the Dembélé role for Barça and, in his first start at striker in over a year, he scored two goals and added an assist. Gordon also could perform in this role, with the England international certainly not unfamiliar with the demands that come as a No. 9. He even specifically said after facing Elche from the bench: “I can do it. I like to play there.”
Dani Olmo and Fermín López operating as attacking midfielders, constantly crashing the box and swapping position with whoever plays as a false nine adds another dimension to Barça’s attack. Furthermore, Olmo in particular is another player capable of leading the line as a false nine himself. One of Barcelona’s best performances under Flick came in a 5–1 thrashing of Real Betis in the 2024–25 Copa del Rey, with Olmo collecting two assists in that position.
Barcelona don’t lack quality difference-makers in attack, Flick has a wealth of options to make his side an attacking juggernaut this season. They do, however, lack a natural striker profile, which could become a major flaw for the Catalans in specific contexts.
Barcelona Can’t Be Prisoners of the Moment
Barcelona debut their Kobe Bryant kit on what would have been his birthday.
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A 5-0 win to start the season. A fitting tribute. https://t.co/q63YKkTddi pic.twitter.com/tUV4Z8u7hV
It’s hard not to be impressed by how formidable Barcelona’s attack looked in their season opener against Elche, but at the end of the day, decisions can’t be made based on one game, especially considering the rival in front.
Barcelona defeated Elche 3–1 twice a season ago, with Flick’s men enjoying themselves against Antonio Sanabria’s bold approach. Now, under Martín Anselmi, Elche are even more willing to take risks regardless of the opponent in front, and Barça punished them.
Elche tried to press high on Sunday night and played with a high defensive line that would make Flick proud. As a result, Barcelona and their aforementioned speedy attackers, ran riot, exploiting the acres of space behind the hosts backline to devastating effect. All you need to see is Barça’s fifth goal of the night, when Gordon squared López for a tap-in inside the penalty area with not a single defender anywhere close to the action.
Against teams that take risks and try to play aggressively leaving space to exploit, Barcelona’s striker-less attack can undoubtedly flourish. But it will likely be another matter entirely when opponents decide to sit deep in a compact low-block dedicated to eliminating space.
Without a reference inside the penalty area that can thrive as a target man, it’s not hard to envision Barcelona’s attack misfiring against low blocks. Needing a goal, Barcelona simply couldn’t find a way to unlock an Atlético Madrid in that shape in the final 45 minutes of their 2025–26 Champions League campaign—and that was with Torres and Lewandowski on the pitch.
A Striker Is Needed, But Not Any Striker
There’s no doubt that acquiring a striker of Alvarez’s caliber would significantly improve Barcelona’s attack. The Catalans could use a natural striker, and the club’s hierarchy is aware of this.
“We have internal solutions [for the striker role],” Barcelona sporting director, Deco, confessed recently. “But we will probably make a move before the end of the transfer window. We’ve brought in two players up top,” he added. “Lewandowski’s absence is difficult to replace, Ferran’s is covered by Gordon and Adeyemi.”
Following the win against Elche, Flick himself addressed Barcelona’s plans to sign a striker. “We’ll speak with Deco and we have to do what’s best for the club and it will be next week.”
Unsurprisingly, Barcelona’s desire to sign a center forward remains unchanged given how thin they are at the position, with 18-year-old Hamza Abdelkarim, who is yet to make his official senior debut, the only natural No. 9 currently at Flick’s disposal.
But the Catalans would also be wise not to sign a striker for the sake of signing a striker. The plan has always been to sign an elite Lewandowski replacement, not just any run-of-the-mill frontman. Deco and co. should not deviate from that original plan.
Barcelona’s striker shortage is less than ideal, but making a panic signing could be even worse. If Alvarez or any other striker of that caliber aren’t realistic targets in what remains of the window, then Flick has talented alternatives in-house to make do for the time being.
It’s no secret that Barcelona’s attack remains incomplete, but that doesn’t mean it cannot thrive. If the lack of a true striker becomes a glaring flaw in the opening months of the campaign, then, with a bigger sample size, Barcelona could re-evaluate the situation come the January transfer window.
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