In one of the more shocking January moves, Barcelona have signed Kevin-Prince Boateng on a six-month loan from Sassuolo according to Fabrizio Romano. The 31-year-old Ghana international had scored five goals in his 15 appearances for the Serie A side this season, but Barcelona need a backup for Luis Suarez and it appears that Boateng is their man.
Kevin-Prince Boateng Completes Shock Barcelona Move
It has been a very nomadic career for the now Boateng. The Ghanian playmaker has been all over Europe since bursting onto the scene with Hertha Berlin back in the 2005/2006 season. In the subsequent years, he has played at ten other clubs and will soon make Barcelona his 12th stop in his 14-year career.
Those stops include places like Tottenham, AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke and Portsmouth. Unfortunately, the story at many of those clubs has been the same. Boateng has always had a ton of talent, but never really lived up to it. Now in his 30’s, Boateng is looking for one last chance at a big club.
In bringing him in, Barcelona are hoping he can provide ample cover for Luis Suarez in the coming months, but it’s not a sure thing that he will. Boateng has spent most of his career playing as a number ten, off of a striker. However, his most prolific goalscoring season came playing as a central striker for Las Palmas.
That season, under current Betis coach Quique Sentien, Boateng scored ten league goals in 25 starts for Las Palmas. He also managed to get 11 yellow cards that season, for what it’s worth. Since that season, Boateng has only scored ten league goals total, for Eintracht Frankfurt and Sassuolo.
Barcelona are hoping that Boateng will do much better with the mechanisms they have around him. Their belief is that they are more likely to get the Boateng from Las Palmas because of the players they have and the style they use. Playing him next to Lionel Messi will certainly be a fun exercise.
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