Barcelona called off pursuit of German forward due to €50 million valuation – report
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Barcelona are on the verge of completing the transfer of Gabriel Jesus from Arsenal in what is their most shocking transfer of the summer.
Having made no signings after losing Ferran Torres and Robert Lewandowski, the Catalans were in strong pursuit of a new centre-forward throughout the window.
Julian Alvarez was, and remains their dream target. Atletico Madrid’s resistance, however, prevented that move from materialising and Jesus has emerged as a surprise candidate to serve as a backup striker to fill the void this summer.
Before finalising the Arsenal star’s name, however, the club considered several alternatives including some highly rated youngsters. One such name was Nicolo Tresoldi.
A high fee
In a recent update, German transfer specialist Florian Plettenberg explains Barcelona’s pursuit of Tresoldi and why the move did not unfold this summer.
Barcelona closely followed Tresoldi. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
The journalist confirms that the Catalans were indeed scouting the player as a top target in the summer window considering Alvarez’s situation. Their interest was concrete and contacts were made with his camp.
Club Brugge’s €50 million valuation of the player, however, was seen as too high by the Barcelona administration.
While the player does indeed show great promise, they believe he has not done enough to garner that kind of transfer fee at this point.
The insider theory
Given that Barcelona were willing to spend over €100 million to sign Alvarez this summer, one may wonder why Tresoldi’s €50 million tag was seen to be pricey by the club.
Is Alvarez still the dream? (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
One theory explains that decision convincingly, and it has to do with Barcelona still hoping to land Alvarez in the future.
According to certain sources, the Catalans are bringing in Jesus as a replacement for Ferran Torres’ role and the player is not seen to be a first-choice striker by any measure.
In that sense, Barcelona are yet to sign Robert Lewandowski’s replacement.
Bringing in Tresoldi for a big fee this summer would have directly acted against their idea of pushing for Alvarez in the winter transfer market, and Barcelona are thus thought to be saving that financial power to bring the Argentine star in at some point.