Barcelona Targets Club Brugge’s Nicolo Tresoldi in No. 9 Search

FC Barcelona’s search for a new centre-forward has taken another sharp turn, and this time the radar has locked onto Belgium.

According to COPE journalist Victor Navarro, Club Brugge striker Nicolo Tresoldi has moved onto Barça’s shortlist for the No. 9 role, with the German U21 international described as “very, very much liked” inside the club’s hierarchy. He is not the headline target. But he is firmly in the conversation.

The shift comes straight after the definitive collapse of the Blaugrana’s push for Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez. Atletico CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin has closed that door completely, forcing Hansi Flick and sporting director Deco to change lanes and accelerate work on alternative options.

Lautaro Martínez of Inter Milan has emerged as the preferred choice. Within the club, there is broad agreement that the Argentine is the ideal profile, and Barça are ready to go all in to try to prise him away from San Siro.

But transfer windows rarely follow a single track. As the Lautaro operation develops, Tresoldi’s name has grown louder in internal discussions. At 21, the Club Brugge forward is seen as one of the most promising young finishers on the continent, and there is genuine admiration for his game at the Ciutat Esportiva.

A rapid rise in Belgium

Tresoldi first made his name at Hannover 96, but it is his explosion in Belgium that has turned heads across Europe.

Since joining Club Brugge in the summer of 2025, his trajectory has been almost vertical. In his debut 2025/26 season, he became a key figure in delivering the Belgian Pro League title to Jan Breydel Stadium, racking up 23 goals and 9 assists in all competitions. Those are not quiet adaptation numbers; those are “build the attack around him” numbers.

The form has not dipped. It has sharpened.

In the current 2026/27 campaign, Tresoldi has started where he left off, already scoring three goals in his first three games. The sample is small, the impact is not. Each outing reinforces his status as one of Europe’s deadliest young No. 9s, a penalty-box striker with the numbers to back the reputation.

The price of potential

There is, of course, a catch. Several, in fact.

Tresoldi only arrived at Club Brugge last summer and signed a long-term deal that runs until 2039. That contract length hands the Belgian champions enormous leverage. Any club wanting to take him now will have to pay for both present output and future upside.

Club Brugge have set their stance early. They want more than €40 million for the Germany U21 international and have already turned down a substantial offer from AS Roma earlier in the window. That rejection sends a clear message to suitors: there will be no bargain.

For Barcelona, juggling financial constraints with the need for a long-term No. 9, Tresoldi sits in an intriguing space. Lautaro Martínez remains the dream. But if that pursuit stalls or explodes in cost, the young striker lighting up Belgium may quickly move from “admired option” to something far more serious.