Barcelona’s No. 9 Hunt: Tresoldi Emerges as Key Option
Barcelona will sign a centre-forward before the window shuts. Inside the club, that’s not a hope, it’s a promise.
All roads still point towards Julián Álvarez. There is strong belief at Barça that the Argentine will eventually arrive, with the player determined to leave Atlético Madrid. But the clock is ticking, negotiations are complex, and the sporting department cannot afford to sit and wait with no safety net.
So a Plan B is being built in the background. And one name has moved sharply into focus: Nicolo Tresoldi.
Tresoldi, the Brugge breakout on Barça’s radar
Reports in England, echoed by SPORT, place Tresoldi among the forwards Barcelona are tracking most closely. The 21-year-old was the breakout striker in the Belgian league last season and finished as Club Brugge’s top scorer.
He is already a Germany U-21 international and widely seen as a forward with huge upside. That hasn’t gone unnoticed. Premier League clubs and AS Roma have already tested the waters this summer, but Brugge have held firm, setting the bar at more than €40 million. For now, Tresoldi has stayed put.
Barcelona, though, are not watching from a distance. The club have gathered full information on a possible deal and have already made contact with the player’s camp, stopping short only of a formal move. Scouts have been working intensively on his profile in recent days, convinced he is one of the most interesting young No. 9s realistically available on the market.
Hansi Flick knows him well from Germany’s youth national teams and has received very positive reports on his development. Inside the coaching staff, there is a clear sense that Tresoldi has the tools to grow into a star.
A striker who has already hurt Barça
Club Brugge do not make transfers easy. Barcelona have already felt that in the negotiations for Jesse Bisiwu, and the Belgian side are expected to be just as demanding with Tresoldi. They also understand, though, that keeping him will be extremely difficult if a top club arrives with a serious offer.
Last season, Tresoldi was Brugge’s standout performer, delivering several eye-catching displays and finishing with 24 goals in all competitions. One of those came against Barcelona themselves in the Champions League, in a wild 3-3 draw where he tormented the Blaugrana back line and underlined exactly why Europe’s elite are circling.
His profile fits many of Barcelona’s current needs. Tresoldi links play well, combines sharply in tight spaces and is particularly effective against deep defensive blocks — a scenario Barça face almost every week in La Liga. Inside the box, he is a clean, confident finisher. His dribbling, by contrast, still lags behind the rest of his game, a reminder that he is not yet the finished article.
That is the dilemma. He looks like the right type of striker, but at over €40 million and with clear room for growth still ahead of him, he would be a significant, and slightly risky, investment.
Álvarez still Plan A, but Barça won’t wait forever
Despite the growing work on alternatives, the roadmap remains clear. Barcelona continue to push for Julián Álvarez and still view him as the priority signing for Flick and Deco. Every planning meeting starts from that premise.
At the same time, the club cannot allow the window to close without a new No. 9. That is why a broad list of options is under review, with Tresoldi now firmly among the leading Plan B candidates.
For the moment, Barcelona will hold their position and see how the Álvarez operation evolves. If Atlético refuse to bend or the numbers stop making sense, the Catalans know they must pivot quickly.
When they do, will they gamble on the raw, rising force from Brugge — the same striker who has already shown them, up close, exactly what he can do?
