Barcelona Leads PSG in $109M Transfer Race: Report

Named for about 10 days as PSG's offensive priority for the summer transfer window, Julian Alvarez would prefer Barcelona, according to several reports from Spain, which should obviously be taken with caution. For its part, Atletico Madrid would seriously consider selling its Argentine international this summer to replenish its coffers.

Will Alvarez be the saga of the 2026 summer transfer window? It is very possible since the Argentine striker, who will try to retain his world champion title this summer in America, could leave Atletico Madrid after two blank seasons, despite still having four years left on his contract.

For about 10 days, several reports from Spain, France and Argentina have indicated strong interest from PSG in the Argentine striker, who had already been courted by the Parisian club when he left Manchester City in 2024.

But Arsenal, which has just been crowned English champion and will face PSG in the Champions League final on May 30, would also be very interested in Alvarez's talents, as would Barcelona, which will have to replace Robert Lewandowski, who officially confirmed his departure from Barcelona last Saturday. At the same time, an extension for the Argentine at Atletico Madrid is also mentioned by several media outlets.

In the event of a departure, one destination would already be ruled out by the player: Arsenal. Alvarez would not wish to return to England after his experience at Manchester City, as the Catalan outlet Mundo Deportivo explained about a month ago.

According to the cited source, Alvarez would prefer Barcelona and would be particularly reluctant to sign for PSG due to the lack of competitiveness in Ligue 1, an argument that often appears in the foreign press.

Specializing in the Spanish transfer window, Italian journalist Matteo Moretto provided an update on Thursday on Alvarez's future on Catalunya Radio and confirmed that the 26-year-old Argentine striker's preference would be for Barcelona in the event of a departure from Atletico.

"Julian, who also has the possibility of going to Paris and England, tells everyone that if he has to change teams, he prefers to go to Barcelona because he wants to stay in Spain," Moretto said. According to him, the relationship between Diego Simeone and Alvarez would have also cooled recently, and a departure would be credible this summer.

For its part, Cadena SER, which was one of the first Spanish media outlets to speculate on PSG's interest in Alvarez ahead of this summer's transfer window, believes that Atletico Madrid's sporting management would not look unfavorably upon a transfer of its Argentine striker in order to finance its summer transfer window.

According to various sources, the Madrid club would demand more than $109 million for Alvarez and would prefer to sell him abroad rather than to a title rival, which could complicate things for Barcelona, which is doing a little better than before financially, but which would intend to include players in the balance to lower the price, still according to Moretto, a sign that it does not have unlimited means.

On Radio Marca, Moretto also explained on Friday that Barcelona intended to seriously take action in this case in the coming days by officially contacting Atletico Madrid. Luis Campos explained last week that PSG's transfer window was on standby until May 30, the date of the Champions League final.

The Parisian executive also issued a warning on Wednesday on X to anyone who might consider signing for PSG this summer or in the future: "Those who are ready to give everything for this project, for this club, will come to Paris. Those who want to enjoy playing beautiful soccer, with their teammates, in training and (respond) to the coach's demands, to enjoy the City of Light, the support of management, much more than the money they could earn (will come to Paris)."

Finally, Barcelona president Joan Laporta, who was recently re-elected, also discussed the Alvarez case on Friday on the sidelines of a golf event in Barcelona: "We are not ruling anyone out, because Barcelona can aspire to all the great players," he first said, before clarifying his club's position: "We set the conditions. We will recruit the players that our sporting director Deco wants. But we are not going to throw money out the window or do anything crazy."