Barcelona's No. 9 Search: Tresoldi Emerges Amid Álvarez Uncertainty

Barcelona will not close this transfer window without a new centre-forward. Inside the club the stance is blunt: a striker has to arrive, and the preferred name remains Julián Álvarez.

There is strong belief at Barça that Álvarez will eventually force his way out of Atlético Madrid, with the Argentine determined to leave. But the clock is ticking, negotiations are complicated, and the sporting department cannot afford to sit and wait for a deal that might arrive too late. So a parallel track has opened.

Tresoldi climbs the list

In England, reports picked up by SPORT point to a new name moving up Barcelona’s shortlist: Nicolo Tresoldi, the breakout striker of the Belgian league and Club Brugge’s leading scorer last season.

At 21, Tresoldi already carries the label of “enormous potential” and is part of Germany’s U-21 setup. Scouts across Europe have taken notice. Premier League clubs have sounded him out. AS Roma did the same earlier in the summer.

All of them have run into the same wall: Club Brugge.

The Belgian side are asking for more than €40 million and, so far, that price has kept Tresoldi where he is. Interested clubs have circled, made enquiries, even floated proposals, but Brugge have not budged.

Barcelona, for their part, have done their homework. According to the report, the Catalan club already hold full information on what a deal would look like and have made initial contact with the player’s camp, stopping short of a formal move. The scouting department has been working his file intensively in recent days, treating him as one of the most attractive young No. 9s realistically available on the market.

Hansi Flick knows the profile well. His staff have excellent reports from Germany’s youth national teams, where Tresoldi has grown steadily, and the Barça coach is convinced the striker has the tools to make the jump to the elite.

A striker who has already hurt Barça

Barcelona do not need to imagine how Tresoldi might look against them. They have already lived it.

Last season, in a wild 3-3 Champions League draw, the Club Brugge forward scored and tormented the Blaugrana back line all night, constantly pulling defenders out of position and attacking space with intelligence. It was one of several standout performances in a campaign where he finished with 24 goals in all competitions, the clear reference point in Brugge’s attack.

The Belgian club know exactly what they have. They also know how to negotiate. The recent deal with Barcelona for Jesse Bisiwu showed how hard they can push at the table. Yet even in Brugge there is a quiet recognition: if a top-level club arrives with a serious, structured offer, keeping Tresoldi will be almost impossible.

From a stylistic point of view, the fit makes sense for Barça. Tresoldi links well with teammates, reads combinations in tight spaces and shines against deep defensive blocks – the kind of low, compact lines Barcelona face almost every week in La Liga. Inside the box he is a sharp finisher, quick to get shots off and clever with movement.

He is not, however, the complete article. His dribbling still lags behind other aspects of his game, and there is clear room for development in one-on-one situations. That is where the risk lies. €40 million-plus for a forward who is not yet fully formed is a bold call for a club that must weigh every euro.

Álvarez still Plan A

Despite the growing noise around alternatives, the roadmap at Barcelona has not changed. Julián Álvarez remains Plan A for both Flick and Deco. All major strategic efforts are still aimed at unlocking that deal.

At the same time, the reality of the market forces Barça to prepare a safety net. If the Álvarez operation stalls or collapses, they cannot be left scrambling in the final days of the window. That is where names like Tresoldi come in, part of a broader pool of options being examined in detail.

For now, Barcelona wait. They monitor Álvarez, keep lines open with other camps and refine their internal rankings. Tresoldi is firmly on that list, a live option rather than a distant idea.

The question is simple and brutal: when the window closes, will Barça bet on a proven star like Álvarez, or gamble big on the unfinished but tantalising promise of a 21-year-old who has already shown he can make them suffer?