Barcelona are set to make a second aggressive transfer bid in as many days, following the agreement that was reached with Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon. Now the Blaugrana have shifted their attentions to Atletico Madrid star Julian Alvarez, to whom they have been linked for some time.
Alvarez, 26, has been cited as Barcelona’s priority target for the past year to replace Robert Lewandowski, and the Argentine forward has now requested to leave Los Colchoneros. His priority is reportedly to play for Barcelona ahead of any other club. Atletico are reluctant to sell though, and are seemingly seeking a €150m offer in order to do so. It should be noted that Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal are also interested in Alvarez.
🚨 BREAKING: Deco met with Julián Álvarez’ agent yesterday and FC Barcelona want to complete the operation before the start of the World Cup! [@JoanPoquiEraso] pic.twitter.com/cAr69w9Wnn
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) May 28, 2026
Barcelona make €90m offer for Julian Alvarez
According to Sport, Barcelona are set to present a €90m offer for Alvarez, after meeting with Alvarez’s agents. In contrast to the signing of Gordon, believed to be all but official, they it expect it to be a long and drawn out negotiation due to Atletico’s demands. The meeting between Barcelona Sporting Director and agenet Fernando Hidalgo lasted more than four hours in total.
This is corroborated by Marca, and MD add that Deco also met with Juanma Lopez, agent of Joan Garcia and Dani Olmo, for significant time on Wednesday. So far Barcelona are not planning to include any players in their offer, but Lopez may play a role in negotiations – he played for Atletico Madrid for a decade during his playing career.
Will Barcelona have to make sales this summer?
Barcelona’s aggression in the market comes as something of a surprise, despite briefings that they would pursue at least one major signing to replace Robert Lewandowski, and that they would be in the ‘1:1 rule’. Yet that rule merely allows teams to reinvest the money they save/make from player exits. Unless the Catalan giants have cleared significant space this summer, then it could mean significant sales are necessary to register Gordon and potentially Alvarez.
