Barcelona is once again rolling into a speculation entirely familiar to it - a big name, a big number, and financial maths that don't add up. This time on the radar is Anthony Gordon, the England international at Newcastle, whom Spanish „AS" reports the Catalans see as a replacement and competition for Raphinha on the left wing.

The price Newcastle is asking - 80 million euros - is a sum a club under severe financial restrictions shouldn't normally even be considering. But that's Barcelona, the club permanently trying to leap over its own shadow.

Gordon this season has scored 17 goals and added five assists in 47 games - numbers that impress all the more because he had an obvious dip in form midway through the campaign. At 25, he's at the age the big clubs want to catch a player before he peaks.

Sporting director Deco and coach Hansi Flick value him for his directness and his ability to play in several attacking positions. Bayern Munich was also tracking him but failed to agree a deal with Newcastle.

Here comes the comic part of the story. Barcelona couldn't even buy Marcus Rashford from Manchester United for 26 million pounds, a figure that by top-tier European football standards is almost symbolic. And now they're being linked with a transfer three times as big, all at a club required to comply with La Liga's 1:1 financial sustainability rule.

Barcelona also has more urgent priorities - a centre-forward and a centre-back, positions where the club is genuinely exposed. Gordon is a player the club can long for, but longing and the ability to buy are two different things at Camp Nou. The English press is already passing the story along with scepticism - and with reason.