Unai Emery Confirms Suarez Talks But Insists January Window Presents Difficulties

By The Editor
on 17th January 2019

Unai Emery confirms “private” discussions about Denis Suarez…

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Unai Emery confirmed to reporters that there have been “private conversations” about Barcelona’s Denis Suarez though he maintained that signing players in January isn’t easy, the Daily Mail reports.

We’ve been heavily linked with a move for the former Manchester City academy star this month as Emery looks to strengthen our threadbare attack.

Danny Welbeck’s injury left us short of options out wide which forced Emery into a tactical shift, moving to a back-three and relying on wing-backs to provide the width.

That system has proved ineffective in recent weeks as we suffered defeats to the likes of Southampton and West Ham, and it seems Emery wants to return to his preferred system.

To make matters worse, Henrikh Mkhitaryan is currently out with a fractured metatarsal and isn’t expected back until February.

The former Manchester United man represented our only genuine threat out wide, and Suarez would certainly provide another option.

However, with the club seeking a short-term loan deal while Barcelona wants a more decisive purchase, talks are at an impasse.

“They are conversations between us privately. I don’t want to say to you this private conversation with the club,” Emery said regarding his former player.

“This transfer window is not easy to take players that can help us with better performances than the players we have now.

“The club is working and I spoke with Sven, with Raul (Sanllehi, their head of football) about different possibilities with players.

“They are working but it is not easy to take players that can help us with big performances now. I think it is more one transfer for something special you need that can help us.

“We are looking, the club is working with the possibility to loan players and if we can take for helping us in a different position on the team, then maybe we can.”

While Suarez may not be the exciting winger we need at the club, if his arrival sees us return to a 4-3-3 system, then that can only be a positive.

It’s also interesting to hear that Emery is currently in dialogue with Mislintat about the transfer window despite reports suggesting that Suarez wasn’t one of the German’s targets.