Barcelona Intensifies Pursuit of Julian Alvarez as Laporta Takes Charge

FC Barcelona are not backing away from Julian Alvarez. They are doubling down.

Atletico Madrid have already knocked back an offer worth around €100 million, add-ons included, for the Argentine striker. The proposal, structured over six instalments, remains on the table but only until the end of the month. Barcelona have made it clear: this is not an open-ended courtship.

And yet, they are ready to go higher.

Barcelona prepare bigger bid

According to journalist Santi Ovalle on Cadena SER, the La Liga champions plan to keep pushing for Alvarez and are willing to improve their proposal, despite suggestions they had reached their limit.

The idea is not to raise the fixed fee, which would stay at its current level, but to increase the overall package to around €130 million through more substantial add-ons. It is a calculated move: protect their financial structure, but show Atletico they are serious enough to stretch the total value.

Time, though, is a factor. With the current offer expiring at the end of the month, Barcelona are trying to unlock a negotiation that, so far, Atletico have refused to entertain.

Laporta takes the controls

The stalemate has prompted a shift in who is driving the talks.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has personally taken charge of negotiations with Atletico Madrid CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin. Sporting director Deco had already sent a formal proposal, but, according to the report, Atletico sporting director Mateu Alemany did not engage with it and did not pass it up the chain to the key decision-makers.

That breakdown in communication has forced Barcelona to bypass the sporting department and move the discussion to executive level. Laporta is now front and centre, attempting to open a direct channel with Gil Marin in the hope that a deal, or at least a dialogue, can finally begin.

Atletico hold the line

On the other side of the table, Atletico’s stance has barely shifted an inch.

Sources at the club continue to insist they are not willing to negotiate Alvarez’s sale to Barcelona. That line has held all summer, even after the forward publicly stated his desire to leave. Diego Simeone and his staff have told Alvarez to report for pre-season on August 10, underlining their position: as things stand, he remains part of their plans.

Barcelona are banking on that not being the end of the story. They are hoping Alvarez makes another public gesture to reinforce his wish to move, a move that could turn up the heat on Atletico’s hierarchy and test how rigid their resolve really is.

Few alternatives for Flick

All of this plays out against a tactical backdrop in Barcelona.

Hansi Flick wants a very specific profile to lead his attack, and within that framework Alvarez sits close to the ideal. The club are monitoring the market, scanning for alternatives, but internally there is a belief that very few forwards can replicate what the Argentine could bring to Flick’s system.

So Barcelona push on, readying a bigger bid, elevating the talks to presidential level, waiting to see whether Atletico’s hard line holds – or whether the next move from Alvarez himself forces this transfer saga into a new phase.