Barcelona will never be the same without Lionel Messi, but reality bites. The Argentinian, considered to be one of the greatest players in history, is ageing. The Catalans need to start considering a replacement, but do they already have that in Francisco Trincao?
The Portuguese forward was scooped up by the club in the winter transfer window for a whopping €31 million. This looked like an inflated price for an untested starlet, but analysts have been excited about Trincao’s arrival.
Can Francisco Trincao Be Lionel Messi’s Successor?
Playing Style Similar to Messi
Naturally, Trincao is a player extremely similar to Messi. He is a left-footed player who plays on the left flank. He likes to cut in from that side and either go for the goal or produce an assist for his teammates.
Messi has a lot of goal-scoring accolades to his name. So, for a player to come even close to taking his place in the line-up should have a killer instinct in front of the goal. Trincao is no different.
The 20-year-old has six goals and three assists in 17 games for S.C. Braga this season, which are decent statistics for a youngster of his quality. These figures could sky-rocket when playing with creative geniuses like Frenkie de Jong, Arthur and Antoine Griezmann.
Another important part of the player’s style is his ability to drop deeper. By doing this, he can have more time with the ball at his feet and can dictate the tempo of the play in the final third. This is something which the world has been witnessing in Messi’s game-play for the past decade or so.
Pressure Could Crumple Francisco Trincao
As Messi is nearing the end of his peak era, Barcelona must start to test players in his position for a potential alternative in the coming two years.
If Trincao is deployed in the ‘Messi Zone’ in the near future, it is evident that the expectations could really spike. This could hamper the growth of the player if he is not able to handle the expectations and live up to the same.
Nonetheless, the attacker seems quite promising and he has got everything from a technical point of view to become a key player at Camp Nou. Becoming even a rotational alternative to Messi, though, is a herculean task which might come too early.
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