Deco and Laporta's pinch on Mateu Alemany

BarcelonaBefore renewing his contract with Barça until 2028, Hansi Flick made two things very clear. First, he demanded a paradigm shift in physical preparation, something that has been materialized with the departure of Julio Tous and two of his trusted professionals. And, secondly, he made it clear that to raise his team's performance in the Champions League, it was imperative to sign two forwards at their peak. "We need two," he stressed in a pool informal with journalists a few weeks ago. The coach expects that with the departure of veteran Robert Lewandowski, the attacking front needs to be reinforced with a top-level footballer, but he also observes an excessive dependence on Lamine Yamal, especially when essential players like Raphinha Dias are out for almost three months due to injury.

Half of Flick's demand was resolved with a lightning move to sign Anthony Gordon to Newcastle for a minimum of 70 million euros. The magpies they had to sell their best player to balance the books and the English striker preferred to land in La Liga rather than end up at Bayern, which was the other club most interested in signing him. Work done in a few hours before the start of the World Cup. Nothing to do, therefore, with the operation that has been underway for months to incorporate Julián Álvarez, the other signing marked in red on the planning. The conversations of the Barcelona sporting director, Anderson Luis de Souza, Deco, with the environment of the Argentine forward from Atlético de Madrid coming from afar. Aware that it is not the same to buy talent from a mid-table Premier League club as from a direct opponent like the Mattress club, it was vital to seduce the footballer, with whom the conditions for the next five years have already been verbally agreed.

Convinced that two seasons under Diego Pablo Simeone have been enough, Julián went much further in the mixed zone of Argentina-Austria and publicly asked to be transferred to "fulfill" his "dream," which is none other than to play for Barça. The attacker's gesture has been very well received in the Blaugrana offices, where it was already known that Apollo, the financial fund that holds the majority stake in Atlético de Madrid, plans to make a big sale this summer. However, Julián's explicit verbalization that he wants to be a Culer activates a rather difficult pinch to manage for the main sporting director of the Mattress makers, Mateu Alemany. On the one hand, the Balearic executive has the business mandate to make the best possible deal with the Argentine and, on the other, he risks being left without money (and with a disgruntled footballer) if he does not agree to sit down with Laporta and Deco, with whom he does not have the best relationship today, to find a satisfactory solution for all parties.

Maximum 130 million to sign Julián Álvarez

Since Julián is currently reluctant to go to Arsenal or PSG, the two teams also trying to sign him, the only short-term solution to the problem would involve an agreement between Barça and Atlètic de Madrid that currently seems impossible. In fact, following the intentions of the blaugrana directors, the Madrid club has gone from trolling them with a series of social media posts to threatening them with a complaint to FIFA for interference in a current contract. Faced with this hostility, Laporta and Deco will now opt to cool spirits and park the issue until the footballer returns from the World Cup and reiterates that he wants to leave for Barça this summer. Until then, they will focus on closing outgoing operations that will allow them to enforce the 1:1 rule of financial fair play with which they hope to operate in this market for the first time in many years.

Regarding the transfer fee, and even though Florentino Pérez tried to increase it with a phantom offer of 150 million, from Camp Nou they expect it not to go much beyond the 120 million that Antoine Griezmann, another mattress star who ended up blaugrana, was paid in his day. In fact, at the start of this saga, Barça had already sent a first written attempt of 100 million which was rejected. A few chapters later, Laporta, who will regain full powers from July 1st, already knows that Julián will push as hard as necessary. But on the other hand, Mateu Alemany, who does not have the best rapport with the executives of his former club, will play his cards with the seasoned reputation that his almost thirty years of experience in football offices attest to.