Barcelona Pursue Gyokeres as Alvarez Deal Stalls

Barcelona’s search for a new No. 9 has hit a wall with Julian Alvarez, and the club is now ready to push on a different door: Viktor Gyokeres.

According to Jose Alvarez Haya, movement is expected in the coming hours as Barça begin to probe the Arsenal striker’s situation. The Swedish international has quickly moved up the list of alternatives after Ferran Torres’ departure left the squad lighter in attack.

For now, Julian Alvarez remains the dream. The problem is Atletico Madrid. The Rojiblancos have shut the door on negotiations, refusing to even listen to offers for their Argentine forward, and that hardline stance has left Barcelona staring at a transfer impasse as the window ticks towards its close.

So the Catalan club have started to spread the net.

Names like Inter captain Lautaro Martinez and Sporting CP’s Luis Suarez surfaced last week, only for those trails to cool almost as quickly as they appeared. With those avenues fading, Gyokeres has become the latest serious option under discussion at Montjuïc.

Barcelona are not believed to have walked away from Alvarez. The Argentine is still the preferred choice, but the reality of Atletico’s resistance is forcing the club to keep parallel plans alive. Gyokeres is at the heart of that contingency thinking.

Gyokeres at a Crossroads

A year into England, Gyokeres is already at a crossroads.

Gyokeres arrived at Arsenal last summer in a deal worth around €70 million after tearing through defences at Sporting Lisbon and establishing himself as one of Europe’s most prolific centre-forwards.

His first season in the Premier League, though, told a more complicated story.

The 27-year-old finished the 2025-26 campaign with 21 goals in all competitions for Arsenal – a solid return on paper, but short of the outrageous numbers he posted in Portugal. At times he led the line, at others he slipped out of the undisputed starter role, his status fluctuating as Mikel Arteta shuffled his options.

Those inconsistencies have opened the door to questions about his long-term role in North London, and that uncertainty is exactly what Barcelona are looking to test.

If Atletico Madrid refuse to budge on Alvarez, the pressure on Barça to act decisively elsewhere will only grow. Gyokeres, coming off a mixed yet still productive debut season in England, now finds himself at the centre of one of the summer’s most intriguing late-window dilemmas.