Barcelona Targets Rodri and Julián Álvarez Amid Araujo Exit
Barcelona’s summer rebuild has hit its crunch point. Deco has 48 hours circled in red ink and a squad with glaring holes, especially where Ronald Araujo used to stand.
The sporting director is driving two headline moves while trying to solve the most delicate problem of all: replacing the Uruguayan who has just joined Liverpool.
Rodri and Álvarez: the midfield and attack masterplan
In Catalonia, the word is clear. According to “Sport”, Deco wants Spain midfielder Rodri signed from Manchester City by Wednesday at the latest. Not as a vague objective, but as a deadline.
This is the cornerstone move. Rodri would arrive as the organiser, the tempo-setter, the player around whom Hansi Flick could build his entire midfield structure. It is the kind of transfer that alters a club’s ceiling, not just its depth chart.
Running parallel is another audacious play in Manchester: a push for Argentina forward Julián Álvarez, also from City, with hopes of closing that deal within 48 hours. Two world champions from the same dressing room, two solutions to two very different problems.
The idea is clear: lock in the core of the team before the new season starts, not after it has already exposed the cracks.
Araujo gone, green light for a new defensive leader
Araujo’s move to Liverpool has not only left a gap in the back line. It has removed a personality, a presence, a defender who thrived in chaos and often held the structure together on his own.
With that departure confirmed, Deco has formally opened the door to a major signing at centre-back. Talks are underway with several candidates. Names, prices, conditions – all on the table.
Time is not on Barcelona’s side. Three weeks remain before the window shuts. The plan is to have the defensive puzzle completed before the end of the month, with one final reinforcement anchoring the back line.
For now, Flick will start the season with Pau Cubarsí, Gerard Martín, Andreas Christensen and Eric Garcia as his central options. It is a mix of youth, experience and uncertainty. The German coach also wants to repurpose Eric Garcia as a left-back, giving him a secondary option to Jules Koundé on the flanks and another way to build from the back.
Inside the club, there is one more name: academy defender Álvaro Cortés. He is viewed as a serious internal alternative, but only if the market refuses to offer anything truly convincing. The message is firm – Barcelona will not fill a key role just to tick a box.
Cristian Romero: the preferred but expensive solution
At the top of the list stands Cristian Romero. The Tottenham and Argentina defender is the profile Barcelona want: aggressive, front-foot, hardened in the Premier League and already proven at the highest international level.
On paper, he fits. In practice, he is the hardest deal to pull off.
Sources in Argentina currently rule out an agreement. Romero has interest from Arsenal and Inter Milan, and negotiations with Atlético Madrid are described as very advanced. Barcelona are in the race, but not in control.
Then comes the fee. Tottenham want a little over €40 million and have no intention of accepting a loan. Straight cash or nothing. For a club that still has to measure every major outlay, that price point bites.
Romero’s preference, though, leans towards Barcelona. His camp has been fully briefed on which players could leave the club to make room. The attraction of the Camp Nou project is obvious.
Yet despite the mutual interest, no decisive move has been made. No formal bid, no breakthrough. The risk is clear: Barcelona could end up waiting on Romero while the clock runs down and other options vanish.
Laporte: tempting profile, tangled politics
Aymeric Laporte has reappeared on the radar as another strong candidate. Now at Athletic Bilbao, the Spain international offers experience, composure and a left foot that would instantly balance Barcelona’s defence.
On the agents’ side, the message is optimistic. They insist that Laporte’s release clause is relatively low and accessible.
Athletic Bilbao say the opposite. Firmly.
The Basque club deny that there is any easy way to prise Laporte away, and the relationship between the two clubs is already strained after Barcelona’s attempt to sign Nico Williams earlier in the summer. That episode left scars.
Barcelona have no appetite for another political battle with Athletic. If a clear, clean route to Laporte appears – a fixed price, no ambiguity – an official offer could follow. Until then, the fear is that this path is lined with complications that could drag on and derail the rest of the planning.
Tight filters, no vanity signings
Offers are flooding into the Barcelona offices, especially from Premier League clubs ready to loan out surplus defenders late in the window. Agents know the situation. They know the need. They are circling.
Flick and Deco, though, have drawn a hard line. The criteria for any signing are strict.
Any arrival must make sense financially. No inflated wages, no deals that block future moves. Just as importantly, the player has to be good enough to fight immediately for a starting place, not merely to pad the squad.
Barcelona are not shopping for stopgaps. They are trying to rebuild a spine.
Rodri and Julián Álvarez would reshape the team’s heartbeat and cutting edge. The right centre-back would restore authority where Araujo once ruled. The wrong choice, or a late panic move, could leave Flick’s new project exposed before it has even found its rhythm.
