Barcelona Targets Pavlidis Amid Striker Search Challenges

FC Barcelona’s hunt for a new centre-forward has drifted from ambition to attrition, and a familiar face from a painful European night is suddenly back on their radar.

With primary targets blocked off and patience thinning, Benfica striker Vangelis Pavlidis has emerged, according to Cadena SER, as a serious alternative for the Catalan club’s sporting department.

Alvarez and Kroupi walls go up

Barcelona set out this summer with a clear idea: land a high-profile No. 9 to spearhead the next phase of their project.

Julian Alvarez was the name circled in red. The Atletico Madrid forward quickly became the priority, but the response from the capital has been blunt. Atletico have rejected Barcelona’s initial moves and are standing firm that Alvarez is not for sale. No room for negotiation, no hint of softening.

As that door slammed shut, attention swung to a different profile: Bournemouth’s Eli Junior Kroupi. Younger, rawer, a long-term bet. Yet the Premier League club’s stance has been just as uncompromising. Bournemouth have labelled the 20-year-old “untouchable” and are refusing to even sit at the table for talks over a summer exit.

Two plans, two dead ends. Barcelona still want Alvarez, still see him as the main objective, but reality is forcing them to scan the market for someone both proven and obtainable.

That is where Pavlidis walks back into the picture.

Plan C with a history

On paper, Pavlidis looks like a classic Plan C. In practice, he might be something more dangerous than that: a striker who has already shown, brutally, what he can do to Barcelona.

The Greek international, now 27, offers something different to the youthful promise of Kroupi. Experience, reliability, a body of work at the top level. He is coming off a superb 2025/26 campaign with SL Benfica, where he did far more than just lead the line — he led the league.

Pavlidis finished as the top scorer in the Primeira Liga, with 22 goals in 33 appearances. Across all competitions, his numbers swell further: 30 goals in 53 matches. That is not a purple patch. That is sustained production.

For a club wrestling with budget constraints and blocked negotiations, those figures, combined with his age and profile, make him look like an attainable, low-risk option compared with the expensive, hard-to-reach names at the top of the wishlist.

The night Barcelona won’t forget

Inside Barcelona’s offices, Pavlidis is not just a set of stats on a scouting report. He is a memory — and not a pleasant one.

In January 2025, at the Estádio da Luz, he ripped through Barcelona in a Champions League group-stage thriller that turned into a personal statement. In just 30 minutes of the first half, Pavlidis completed a hat-trick, dismantling the backline and setting the tone for a chaotic 5-4 encounter.

It was a display of ruthless finishing and relentless movement, the kind of performance that lodges itself in the minds of sporting directors and coaches. That hat-trick stands as the third-fastest from the start of a match in Champions League history, a statistic that underlines just how explosive he can be on the biggest stage.

For a club now debating whether to move formally for him, that night in Lisbon is not just a footnote. It is part of the case file.

Priority clear, pressure rising

For now, Barcelona’s priority has not changed. The focus inside the club remains on trying to unlock a deal for Julian Alvarez, however complicated that path looks.

Pavlidis sits a step below on the list, a contingency rather than a headline act. But football summers have a way of forcing hands. If Atletico and Bournemouth keep their walls up, Barcelona will have to decide how long they can afford to wait — and how much they are willing to gamble on a market that rarely rewards hesitation.