As Barcelona prepares to transfer 26-year-old French forward Ousmane Dembelé to Paris Saint-Germain, the Olocip company, founded by former Real Madrid player Esteban Granero, has used Artificial Intelligence and big data to find the perfect replacement. Using their tools, Olocip filtered for players with a price tag below 50 million euros, capable of playing on the right wing with at least 1,000 minutes played in that position, and whose characteristics would best adapt to Barcelona's style.
The filtering process resulted in a list of five names, including English winger Marcus Edwards from Sporting Lisbon.
The complete list includes Berardi (Sassuolo), Almirón (Newcastle), Edwards (Sporting Lisbon), Kubo (Real Sociedad), and Gnabry (Bayern Munich).
However, amongst this quintet, the Sporting Lisbon player is considered the one who would adapt best to Xavi Hernández's team in the right-wing position, with a 100th percentile ranking. Edwards is also projected to have the highest increase in market value, going from 30 million euros to 42 million euros after his first season at Barcelona.