Filling the gap left by Luis Suarez by signing Luis Suarez. On paper, it would have been the most authentic like-for-like replacement in footballing history but Watford played their part in stopping it.



When Barcelona lost Suarez and Ousmane Dembele to injury in January, they were given special dispensation to sign another striker on an emergency deal from another Spanish team. They ended up with former Middlesbrough man Martin Braithwaite, who was signed from Leganes, but they’d first made an approach for another Luis Suarez, the Real Zaragoza striker who has scored 17 goals in 30 appearances and three in his last four.



Suarez, who is on loan from Watford and from Colombia rather than Uruguay, was committed to a one-year deal at the Spanish second division side. Both Zaragoza and his parent club decided against letting him go. “It was true Barcelona asked about his situation but it didn’t go any further,” a source close to the negotiations...