Barcelona have reportedly targeted Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta as a potential replacement for Robert Lewandowski, according to Fichajes.net. The 27-year-old forward recently scored a brace in Palace\u2019s 2-0 victory over Manchester United on February 2.<\/p>\n
Although Lewandowski has been in excellent form for Barcelona this season, netting 30 goals in 32 appearances across all competitions, the 36-year-old\u2019s contract runs until 2026. Barcelona, eager to find a younger striker to eventually take over, believe Mateta fits the bill.<\/p>\n
This season, the Frenchman has scored 10 goals in 24 Premier League matches and added three more in the EFL Cup.<\/p>\n
Standing at 1.92 meters, his height makes him an ideal target man for the centre-forward role, and Barcelona hopes to secure his transfer in the summer.<\/p>\n
Mateta, who joined Crystal Palace from Mainz 05 in 2021 and became a regular starter in 2022, has impressed with his positioning and work ethic, earning a key role at Selhurst Park. Despite his contract with Palace running until 2026, reports suggest Barcelona will find it relatively easy to sign him.<\/p>\n
With financial constraints limiting Barcelona\u2019s options in the transfer market, they are hopeful that signing Mateta won\u2019t be a major hurdle. The plan would be for him to serve as Lewandowski\u2019s understudy in the coming season, with the Polish forward unlikely to receive a contract extension. After Lewandowski\u2019s departure, Mateta would step up as the club\u2019s primary striker.<\/p>\n
Currently sitting third in La Liga, four points behind leaders Real Madrid, Barcelona will be eager to strengthen their squad and challenge for the title they last won in 2022-23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barcelona have reportedly targeted Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta as a potential replacement for Robert Lewandowski, according to Fichajes.net. The 27-year-old forward recently scored a brace in Palace\u2019s 2-0 victory over Manchester United on February 2. Although Lewandowski has been in excellent form for Barcelona this season, netting 30 goals in 32 appearances across all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":32953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-30"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stad10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stad10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stad10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stad10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stad10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stad10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stad10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stad10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stad10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stad10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}