Luis Suarez Emerges as Barcelona’s Plan B if Alvarez Deal Dies

Barcelona have identified Sporting CP forward Luis Suarez as their striker Plan B should the pursuit of Julián Álvarez finally collapse, according to a Fabrizio Romano report carried by Barça Universal. The 28-year-old Colombia international — no relation to the Uruguayan of the same name who led the Barça line between 2014 and 2020 — is the option the Blaugrana are holding in reserve while Atlético Madrid refuse to open the door.

Why Luis Suarez is on Barça’s list

The need is stark. Robert Lewandowski left for Chicago Fire this summer and Ferran Torres has completed a €50m move to Paris Saint-Germain, leaving Hansi Flick without a recognised senior centre-forward days from the start of the season. Barcelona will give the Álvarez situation roughly another week before switching focus, the report says, and no contact has yet been made with Sporting. Suarez is under contract in Lisbon until 2030 and rated as an important part of the club’s plans, so he would be neither cheap nor simple.

The detail that matters most for Culers is the manager’s stance. Journalist Gerard Romero reports that Flick has approved a move for Suarez — no small thing given how many highly rated forwards the German is said to have waved away in recent weeks. Barcelona had already been linked with Lautaro Martínez as an Álvarez alternative; the Colombian now joins that shortlist.

Álvarez remains the priority. He is reported by Mundo Deportivo to be pressing his case diplomatically with Diego Simeone and the Atlético board rather than agitating for an exit — an approach unlikely to shift a club showing no intention of selling. If nothing moves inside the next week, Luis Suarez becomes the plan.