Barcelona make Premier League forward number one priority due to Julian Alvarez difficulties

Barcelona have reportedly decided to focus their efforts elsewhere, with number one target Julian Alvarez set to prove too difficult to sign from Atletico Madrid. Reports in Catalonia suggest that Director of Football has a new priority to strengthen their frontline.

Alvarez was declared as the preferred number nine target as early as last summer, and for some months, Barcelona have made their interest clear. Yet they have set a €100m budget for any deal, while Los Colchoneros have publicly declared that they are not considering his sale. Nevertheless, this week, interest from Paris Saint-Germain has been heavily reported, with the French side reportedly willing to outbid Barcelona.

According to MD, Barcelona are now set to focus their efforts on signing Chelsea forward Joao Pedro. They believe that a deal could be done for somewhere in the region of €70m this summer. Hours earlier, Globo Esporte in Brazil (via Marca) have reported that Barcelona are now working on a deal for Pedro, although they believe a deal could be closer to €100m.

That said, if Chelsea fail to qualify for the Champions League, this would potentially bring the price down. The Catalan side are keen to do a deal before Pedro reaches the World Cup with Brazil too.

On the one hand, Pedro is a much closer replacement to Lewandowski than Alvarez, providing more of a physical presence than the Argentine. He also has more of an aerial threat in the box, something that Barcelona’s other forwards do not, and another of the things that Barcelona reportedly like about him is his ability to link play.

Yet Pedro does not have a goalscoring record comparative to that of Lewandowski at any point in his career, and is relatively inexperienced at the top level. The 24-year-old has just eight caps for Brazil, and this was his first season in the Champions League, the competition Barcelona are trying to make the difference in.