The good news for Barca is that they are edging ever closer to finally getting their house in order. La Liga president Javier Tebas admitted that the Catalans “are on the right track” towards meeting the Spanish top-flight’s infamous 1:1 financial regulation, which basically means that clubs operating within their wage limit are allowed to spend 100 percent of the revenue they generate from sales or salary savings on new players.
Indeed, Barcelona treasurer Ferran Olive recently claimed that the club is just €10m-12m away from their target and are, thus, “in a position to sign a top striker this summer. In fact, I can say the club is actively looking for it.”
Alvarez is the No.1 target, but he’s not the only one. The name of Alexander Sorloth is also being bandied about, and that’s because Alvarez’s Atleti team-mate would be available for a much smaller price.
The word is that Barca will only have approximately €130m (£113m/$153m) to spend this summer, which is why the Catalans have gone cold on the idea of taking up their option to sign Marcus Rashford on a permanent basis from Manchester United for €30m (£26m/$35m) – which looked like a given just a few months ago. Barca are instead exploring younger, cheaper alternatives, such as Victor Munoz, Ez Abde, Jan Virgili and Andreas Schjelderup.
Offloading out-of contract duo Lewandowski and Christensen, and hopefully also former captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen, would also free up some wiggle room on the wage bill, but it’s clear that a significant sum of money will also have to be raised from sales if Barca are to bring in both Bastoni and Alvarez. Luckily, the Blaugrana do have valuable assets that are also expendable, such as Ferran Torres, Marc Casado and maybe even Alejandro Balde amid rumours of a cut-price move for Bayer Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo.
Torres has never quite convinced as a No.9 and has attracted interest from both England and Italy, midfielder Casado is surplus to requirements in Barca’s strongest department, while Balde’s form has fluctuated this season and his potential exit – just like that of Casado – would bring in some of that precious pure profit.
As with La Liga, then, there is still work to be done, and when it comes to buying, and more importantly, registering new players, nothing can ever be taken for granted with Barca. Usually, the only certainty is uncertainty.
Flick is, thus, right to be cautious, as there’s not much room for manoeuvre – or any real margin for error. As it stands, though, while signing both Bastoni and Alvarez will be difficult, it’s certainly not impossible – and really would represent a pretty perfect window for Barca in the circumstances.
