Barcelona's Striker Hunt: Alvarez Stalls as Deadline Approaches

Barcelona have ticked off one major job this summer with the arrival of Rodri. Now, two positions dominate the rest of their window: centre-back and, above all, centre-forward.

The entire spotlight sits on the No. 9 role. And that spotlight, for now, is fixed on Julian Alvarez.

Alvarez wants Barça – but won’t force the issue

The Argentine forward is understood to be keen on a move to Catalonia and is scheduled to sit down with the Atletico Madrid hierarchy later this week. That meeting has become the hinge on which Barcelona’s attacking plans swing.

There is a problem, though. Alvarez does not look ready to go to war with his club. He has not shown the willingness to take a hard line and push for an exit Atletico do not want to approve.

That hesitation has left Barcelona in a holding pattern.

Deco sets a clear deadline

Deco has already started sounding out alternative targets, but he is giving Alvarez a little more time to move first.

According to the latest from Victor Navarro, Barcelona will wait until Saturday for any sign of progress on the Alvarez front. If nothing changes by the weekend, the sporting director will pivot decisively to other options.

Work on those backup plans is already under way. Calls have been made, scenarios mapped out. The moment the weekend arrives without movement from Alvarez’s camp, those plans will be activated.

All eyes, then, are on the midweek summit between Alvarez and Atletico’s top brass. Inside Barcelona, optimism is thin. Diego Simeone publicly shut the door earlier today, stating that the striker will not leave. When the coach speaks that clearly, it rarely bodes well for a transfer.

A thin striker market – and a new leading name

The difficulty for Barcelona is that the centre-forward market is painfully limited. There are not many realistic, high-level alternatives if the Alvarez deal collapses.

Earlier this week, reports linked Sporting striker Luis Suarez with a move to Barcelona, briefly raising eyebrows given the name and profile. Those rumours were quickly cooled, with clarification that the interest was not as concrete as initially suggested.

Now another candidate has surged to the top of Deco’s list. In recent hours, Villarreal forward Georges Mikautadze has emerged as a serious option for the role.

The clock is ticking. If Alvarez does not make his move by the weekend, Barcelona will be forced to make theirs.