Julian Alvarez prioritises Barcelona move as blow dealt to Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain | OneFootball

Barcelona have high ambitions for this summer’s transfer window, with a top-level centre-back and striker wanted for Hansi Flick’s squad. And they have already identified their leading targets in this regard, those being Alessandro Bastoni and Julian Alvarez.

There is optimism within Barcelona that a deal for Bastoni can be done, with Inter open to selling their prized central defender. The Catalans have had an opening offer laughed off in recent weeks, but the hope is that an agreement with Inter will be reached at some stage over the coming months.

It’s a much more difficult case regarding Alvarez, whom Atletico Madrid have absolutely no intention of selling. However, Barcelona can be comforted by the fact that the Argentina international – as well as Bastoni – would welcome a move to the Spotify Camp Nou, as MD have revealed.

Barcelona prepared to pay €100m for Alvarez

Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain have also shown interest in signing Alvarez this summer, but in the event that he were to leave the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, his priority would be to join Barcelona. However, the fact that the Catalans have set a budget of €100m means that he may need to force an exit, given that Atleti, if they were to accept an offer, would likely want much more than the €95m they paid to bring him in from Manchester City.

Meanwhile, Bastoni is prepared to do exactly that to help Barcelona bring down Inter’s asking price, although sporting director Deco is holding tight on further moves for the Italian defender until Flick gives the go-ahead – a meeting is planned for next week between the two. Once the green light is given, more work will be done to bring a deal closer to happening.

It will be interesting to see whether Barcelona are able to sign Alvarez and Bastoni. If they can, it would be a massive statement of intent to the rest of Europe – and in particular, Real Madrid.