Barcelona make £175m superstar number one target for 2026

Martin Macdonald

• 30 Sep 2025 10:00 CDT
• 3 min read

News

Barcelona have made Atletico Madrid star Julian Alvarez their number one attacking target for 2026 but they will have to pay a fortune to get their man.

The Blaugrana will sign a new top-class number nine at the end of the season in order to replace veteran striker Robert Lewandowski.

Current ETV

Julián Alvarez

F (C)

Atlético Madrid

Julián Alvarez

F (C)

Atlético Madrid

€96M

ETV Range

€86.4M - €105.6M

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And Diario Sport reports that they have made Atletico Madrid attacker Alvarez as their chief target having been blown away by his performances in the Spanish capital.

Barcelona want to sign Alvarez

Alvarez has been in sensational form recently, scoring five goals in his last two matches.

This includes a hattrick in the 3-2 win over Rayo Vallecano and two in the 5-2 thrashing of Real Madrid in the Madrid derby.

But the report states that Alvarez will not come cheap.

Atletico will demand around £174.67m (€200m) for the ex-Man City star, meaning Barcelona will have to make him the second most expensive player of all time after Neymar.

But Barcelona feel he would be worth it.

The Argentina attacker moved to Atletico from Man City in the summer of 2024 in a deal that will eventually be worth an incredible £83m (€95m)

This fee is the biggest sale in the history of Man City, surpassing the £49m (€56.2m) recouped in 2022 for Raheem Sterling when he moved to Chelsea.

His value has now more than doubled according to Atletico.

Alvarez scored 29 goals in 54 appearances across all competitions during his first season in Spain in what has been a very successful spell.

At City, he was mainly a substitute or rotation player at the club, with Erling Haaland the first-choice striker under Pep Guardiola.

He still managed a respectable 36 goals in all competitions for City despite his lack of minutes, winning the treble in his first season and six trophies in total.

Alvarez also played a key role in Argentina’s 2022 World Cup triumph as he scored three times on their way to victory in Qatar.

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