Barcelona Eyes Viktor Gyokeres as Alvarez Deal Stalls
Barcelona’s hunt for a new No. 9 has hit a wall, and a new name is rapidly moving up their list: Viktor Gyokeres.
With the Julian Alvarez saga dragging on and Atletico Madrid refusing to even open the door to negotiations, the Catalan club are now preparing to probe Gyokeres’ situation at Arsenal, according to Jose Alvarez Haya. Movement is expected in the coming hours, with Barcelona ready to test whether the Swedish striker could be prised away.
Alvarez remains the dream. He is still viewed inside the club as the ideal centre-forward signing. The problem is Atletico. The Rojiblancos have taken a hard line over their Argentine star, rejecting the idea of selling to a direct rival and leaving Barcelona stuck in a holding pattern as the transfer window ticks towards its close.
That stalemate has forced Barcelona to widen the search.
Lautaro Martinez was floated. So was Sporting Lisbon’s Luis Suarez. Both names generated noise last week, both were quickly cooled. Neither option is currently active, and so Gyokeres has stepped into the frame as the most realistic alternative under discussion.
The plan, as it stands, is not to walk away from Alvarez. Barcelona are keeping that door open for as long as Atletico’s stance leaves even the faintest hope. But the reality is clear: if nothing shifts in Madrid, they need another route. Gyokeres is that contingency.
A year of questions for Gyokeres at Arsenal
Gyokeres arrived at Arsenal last summer for around €70 million after tearing through defences with Sporting Lisbon and establishing himself as one of Europe’s most prolific strikers. His numbers in Portugal were spectacular and expectations in England soared.
The Premier League, though, gave him a different kind of examination.
He finished the 2025-26 season with 21 goals in all competitions for Arsenal – a solid return on paper, but short of the ruthless output he had produced in Lisbon. The goals came, but not with the same relentlessness. At times he drifted in and out of the starting XI, never quite securing the status of an untouchable starter.
Those doubts are exactly what make his situation interesting for Barcelona. A striker with proven pedigree, a big fee behind him, but not entirely settled in London. For a club scrambling for a centre-forward solution, that profile is hard to ignore.
Now the clock is running. Atletico are holding firm on Alvarez. Barcelona are calling around for alternatives. And Gyokeres, coming off a mixed yet respectable debut season in England, suddenly finds himself at the centre of one of the window’s most intriguing late twists.
