Fabrizio Romano further revealed Barcelona's transfer strategy this season, including why they chose to sign Anthony Gordon instead of Marcus Rashford. He will also discuss the ongoing transfer saga involving Julian Álvarez and some promising young stars.
Hi Fabrizio, welcome back to our podcast. This is Francesco Polzio and Fabrizio Romano, bringing you the latest news from "Man in Blazers." Today we're talking about Barcelona, because Barça has had a fantastic start to the season. How do you feel about the atmosphere at the club right now?
To be honest, Barcelona is feeling fantastic right now. As you said, the start of the season has been incredible. If I remember correctly, 22 goals in 5 games, including 5 goals in 4 of them, is truly outstanding. The atmosphere among the players is great, and the atmosphere within the club is also great. So, this is a fantastic moment for Barcelona. Obviously, it's only the beginning of the season, but everyone is happy, especially after that completely different summer transfer window. We all remember how exciting the transfer window was for Barça at the start. But after the World Cup, there were some doubts about the striker position. Real Madrid were very active in the market during the World Cup, so there was some commotion. However, later, with the arrival of Rodri and other changes, Barça is very happy with their current squad and now truly believes they can achieve something special.
Speaking of Barcelona, we naturally have to go back to the summer, because one of the major transfer saga that summer involved Julian Alvarez, who ultimately didn't join. Barcelona's version is that he didn't accept the offer and didn't seriously look for other opportunities?
Yes, he had several opportunities, as we know about Arsenal's situation. Arsenal did indeed try. There was a phone call between Julian Álvarez and Arteta in the last few days of August. Before that, Arteta and the Arsenal management had been working hard, with everyone in the club trying to contact Julian and his team to talk. But Julian didn't even want to talk.
This wasn't disrespect towards Arsenal, but rather towards all the other clubs that tried to contact him. In June, Paris Saint-Germain made some calls. Manchester City also made some calls to see if a potential return was possible. These were just calls, not even negotiations, just to confirm if there was room for further communication. Atletico Madrid didn't want to sell the player to Barcelona, but Juan's response was consistently "no, thank you." He was focused on only one thing: Barça. Juan did indeed reject several opportunities, but Atletico Madrid maintained their stance; they didn't want to sell him to Barcelona. So, ultimately, that's how that transfer saga ended.
Julian is now back in Atletico Madrid's squad. He started last night against Liverpool. So, for now, things seem to be under control. We'll have to see what happens in the future, because I think Julian still has Barcelona on his mind.
Barcelona also has another outstanding number 9, Rafinha, who has switched positions. What are people's opinions of him?
The feeling here is fantastic. Rafinha has had a perfect start to the season. Nine attacking involvements, eight goals, and he's playing very well in his new position as a center forward. Everyone is very satisfied with Rafinha, and not just because of his performance, but also because his attitude in the dressing room is highly regarded by Barcelona. So the latest news we can give today is that Barcelona is in contact with Rafinha's team, preparing to begin contract extension negotiations. There will be talks in the next few weeks.
Discussions will unfold in the coming weeks. Therefore, there will be progress on Rafinha's contract extension. There have been many rumors about him potentially going to Saudi Arabia, even around the time of the World Cup, that he might leave Barcelona for Saudi Arabia, but that was never true. Barcelona has never considered Rafinha leaving a possibility, and Rafinha is very happy at Barcelona. Therefore, I expect these contract extension negotiations to go quite smoothly, as both sides are satisfied. Of course, salary, contract length, and other details will still be involved, but talks should begin soon.
Speaking of talks and contract renewals, is there any news from Barcelona to share today? Yes, and it concerns a future talent. Deco mentioned in an interview today that Rafinha is playing very well as a number 9, and also talked about the future number 9 – Hamza. The Egyptian striker was signed by Barcelona in the January transfer window.
This signing was smart. Consider that they only paid around €3 million for him. Hamza has already shown promising preseason form. Of course, official matches for the Barcelona first team are another matter, but Barcelona genuinely believes in the young man's potential, and negotiations are underway. Barcelona has already met with Hamza's agent twice. Barcelona wants to finalize the contract extension as soon as possible. Why so quickly? Because his current contract includes a release clause. Barcelona wants to adjust the value of this clause to ensure Hamza gets a better contract quickly. So I remain optimistic about this, as Barcelona is working hard to expedite the process.
