Barça confirms the signing of Anthony Gordon

BarcelonaAnthony Gordon is the first signing for Barça for the third season with Hansi Flick. The 25-year-old English international footballer has reached an agreement with the Catalan club. This week, the Barça sporting director, Deco, has been in England negotiating with Newcastle United. The agreement between the three parties is now a fact and the footballer will sign his contract with Barça this Friday at 13:00 in the office of interim president Rafael Yuste. Afterwards, he will be presented at a press conference.

Gordon, who will sign for the next five seasons, arrived in Barcelona on Thursday to undergo his medical examination before being presented with Barça and leaving to play in the World Cup with the English national team. The Catalan club will pay 70 million for his services, a figure that will be higher depending on the variables agreed between the parties. The player's desire, who had also received interest from Bayern Munich and Liverpool, to wear the Barça colours has been key.

Born in Liverpool, he briefly went through the academy of the red team without success. At 11 years old, he joined Everton, the club with which he debuted in the First Division after a whole career wearing blue. On February 1, 2021, he was loaned to Preston North End in the Second Division and then returned to Everton. In the winter market of 2023, Newcastle United signed him, paying 45 million pounds, and with this club he has won a League Cup and played in the Champions League, where he scored four goals in a match against Qarabag.

He also faced Barça and scored a goal against them in a group stage match. After losing to Flick's team, Gordon was full of praise, speaking about his future teammates. "They are the best I have played against in this sense of the game; to be honest, we are not used to playing against players who can keep the ball like this," he said then. Gordon also stands out for his physique, which allows him to be very aggressive when pressing, a capacity that Hansi Flick really likes.

Marcus Rashford's continuity is getting complicated

Precisely this is one of the main shortcomings of Marcus Rashford, whose chances of continuing at Barça are diminished, even though only a few days ago from the club's noble offices they had not ruled out paying the 30 million euros for his transfer from Manchester United. The problem is Rashford's salary fit, who earns more than Gordon – the Red Devils attacker has one of the highest salaries in the Premier League –, and how it would impact fair play.

While Barça will spread Gordon's salary and amortization over five years, who is 25 years old and the club considers that if he doesn't quite make it, he has room to resell him in the English market, with Rashford they would not be willing to offer him a contract longer than three years because he is already 28 years old. All of this (higher salary and more years of contract) means that signing Rashford would have a greater impact on Barça's salary margin, even if Gordon costs double in terms of the transfer fee.

The last few days have been intense, as Bayern had shown interest in Gordon, who was willing to leave Newcastle after failing to qualify for the Champions League. Liverpool had also shown interest, which had complicated everything because Steven Gerrard was Gordon's childhood idol. The winger, who had a contract until the summer of 2030, has scored 39 goals in 152 games for Newcastle and has sometimes played as a center forward. However, sources consulted by ARA assure that Gordon is not coming to play as a center forward.

Barça accelerates for Julián Álvarez

After closing Gordon's signing, theblaugrana sporting management aims to accelerate an operation considered crucial by both the elected president, Joan Laporta, and the coach, Hansi Flick. As reported by Mundo Deportivo, yesterday afternoon Deco also met with Julián Álvarez's agent, Fernando Hidalgo, at a hotel in Barcelona. Also attending the meeting was an agent who could end up being key in the operation, Juanma López, representative of blaugrana footballers such as Joan Garcia and Dani Olmo, and former player of Atlètic de Madrid. Andy Bara was also present, representative of the same agency –Niagara Sports Company– and who also maintains a good relationship with Atlètic de Madrid.

Julián, despite having a contract with the Madrid club until 2030, has long been letting his closest circle know that he would like to play for Barça, a club he has been a fan of since childhood. However, the two main obstacles are that the Mattress Makers are asking for more than 100 million euros for his departure - this is the amount that Barça is currently willing to reach between fixed and variable payments - and that the strongman of the negotiations is Mateu Alemany, who has no sympathy for Deco.

Nevertheless, Barça is accelerating before the World Cup to satisfy two of Hansi Flick's main requests – a winger (Anthony Gordon) and a center forward (Julián Álvarez) –, although in the case of the Argentinian it will not be half as easy as with the Briton.