The Colombian was never the Catalan club's primary target this summer, but his name surfaced repeatedly in the closing weeks of the window as Barcelona searched for a fallback option in case a deal for Atlético Madrid's Álvarez proved impossible — which is ultimately what happened.
According to Fabrizio Romano, sporting director Deco's recruitment team liked Suárez as an alternative, but the approach never progressed beyond informal interest.
Sporting's stance made any move difficult from the outset. The Portuguese club rejected significant offers from Premier League and Saudi clubs earlier in the window and were unwilling to negotiate down from his €80 million release clause, regarding the 28-year-old as a key part of their system after he stepped in to fill the void left by Viktor Gyökeres's departure to Arsenal last year.
Barcelona ultimately declined to trigger the clause, with reports suggesting the club's focus never seriously shifted away from Álvarez despite the growing noise around Suárez's name, and the Argentine's move never materialised regardless.
Whatever Barcelona's final call, Suárez's scoring record for Sporting speaks for itself. He managed 38 goals and nine assists in 53 appearances across all competitions last season, five of those goals coming in the Champions League, numbers that are hard to come by even accounting for the gap in quality between the Portuguese league and Europe's leading domestic competitions.
He looks intent on continuing in similar fashion this season, with Sporting having lost little of their attacking edge despite Gyökeres's exit. Suárez arrived late for pre-season after Colombia's World Cup campaign and began the new Primeira Liga season on the bench for the opening two matches, but reclaimed his starting spot from the third round onward and has rediscovered his best form as a result.
The striker has scored four goals in his last three matches, netting against Alverca, a brace against Rio Ave and another goal plus an assist against Nacional last weekend, form that suggests Barcelona's sporting department had good judgement in identifying him as an alternative worth monitoring.