Last chance for Laporta with Julián Álvarez
The Argentine remains the great desire of Joan Laporta, Deco, and Hansi Flick.
FC Barcelona has its last opportunity to sign Julián Álvarez in the winter transfer market, considering that the player's performance has not been the best. He maintains his stance of wanting a change of scenery, while Atlético de Madrid is searching for a new center forward.
The board chaired by Joan Laporta considers the world champion a strategic piece to form a top offensive trident alongside Lamine Yamal and Raphinha, and is willing to make a substantial financial proposal if it can unlock key sales in its squad beforehand.
The desire to leave Atlético and the numbers at the start of the season
The operation gains momentum due to the player's own stance at the Civitas Metropolitano. Despite having a contract valid until the summer of 2030, Julián Álvarez is going through a discreet start to the season in individual records — accumulating only two goals and three assists in 12 official matches — and does not wish to continue in the red-and-white discipline.
In the offices of the colchonero team, they acknowledge the difficulty of retaining a player looking for a change of scenery. For this reason, the sporting director Mateu Alemany is actively scouting the international market for a reliable center forward, opening the door to a sale in January as long as the Barcelona offer reaches figures that allow for reinforcement in other critical areas of Diego Simeone's team.
The sales of Alejandro Balde and Jules Koundé as a financial key
To make such a significant investment midway through the season without compromising LaLiga's economic control rules, the technical secretariat led by Deco has defined the financial roadmap:
-Priority Transfers: The club expects to finalize the departures of Alejandro Balde and Jules Koundé in January, two assets with high market value that would generate immediate liquidity and free up enough salary margin to register the Argentine forward.
-Parallel Defensive Reinforcement: In addition to securing Julián Álvarez to lead Hansi Flick’s attack, the sports management simultaneously intends to incorporate a top-level center back to balance the defense.
The executive board of FC Barcelona will accelerate the exit negotiations for Balde and Koundé during the upcoming weeks of November and December 2026. If the Catalan club manages to turn both sales into liquidity before the year changes, Joan Laporta will present his formal proposal to Atlético de Madrid to dress Julián Álvarez in January 2027.
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Última oportunidad de Laporta con Juilán Álvarez