Barcelona 'wanted Luka Jovic in summer deal'

Barcelona were reportedly interested in signing Luka Jovic during the summer transfer window before the forward left Eintracht Frankfurt to join Real Madrid.

The 21-year-old scored 36 times in 75 appearances for Frankfurt before completing a switch to Madrid in the early stages of June, penning a six-year contract at the Bernabeu.

Jovic has struggled to make his mark in the early stages of the 2019-20 campaign, although the striker was handed a starting role against Villarreal last weekend.

According to AS, Barca had wanted to boost their forward line with the signing of Jovic - the Serbia international being regarded as a potential long-term replacement for Luis Suarez.

However, the report claims that the Spanish champions were not prepared to meet Jovic's wage demands, while Ernesto Valverde's side also struggled to agree a fee with Frankfurt.

Barca have been unable to call upon three key attackers in the early stages of the campaign with Ousmane Dembele, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi all currently on the sidelines.

Antoine Griezmann has netted twice for the Catalan giants in La Liga this term, though, while 16-year-old Anssumane Fati was on the scoresheet against Osasuna last time out.