Barcelona Presidential Candidate Snubs Julian Alvarez, Reveals Contact With Another Star Striker

The race to take charge at Camp Nou has featured some big promises so far.

Julián Alvarez is a long-time target for Barcelona. | Aitor Alcalde Colomer/Getty Images

Barcelona presidential candidate Xavier Vilajoana claims to have already had contact with Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane over a move to Camp Nou, believing the Englishman would be a better fit for the club than Atlético Madrid’s Julián Alvarez.

After a simple graphic teasing a move for Kane on social media, Vilajoana ramped up the excitement in an interview with ESPN in which he suggested signing the Englishman could be feasible for Barcelona if he is elected president next month.

“What we're missing is a striker,” he explained. “A center forward who is capable of linking up play, but who is also a killer in the box.

“We’ve already made some contact, and I think he’s a player who would be a great fit, pending his contractual situation: it’s Harry Kane.

“Kane is a center forward who would fit in perfectly with our style of play. He’s a striker who is capable of dropping back to link up with his teammates. He is also capable of playing as a pure No. 9, a killer, a finisher.

“He is a player who brings mobility. He also performs well when teams sit deep. He would add a lot of value to Barcelona’s game.”

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Vilajoana Rejects Longstanding Alvarez Interest

Xavier Vilajoana has big plans for Barcelona. | Xavi Torrent/Getty Images/The Times

As Barcelona prepare for the eventual departure of veteran striker Robert Lewandowski, Alvarez’s name has regularly been mentioned as a likely target, but Vilajoana believes the club should be looking elsewhere.

“He’s a very good player, he could fit in, football-wise,” Vilajoana admitted. “But there are other interesting options. Right now, I wouldn’t spend €70 million on the Argentinian.”

Instead, Vilajoana doubled down on his interest in Kane, believing the Englishman brings a skill set that is rarely produced in the Barcelona academy.

“I put Harry Kane as an example, because his profile is not an easy one to produce at La Masia,” he told Football Espana. “He’s a very good goalscorer, he has a lot of talent, he can link play very well, drop deeper, and is one of the players that can play in tight spaces.

“He has a lot of skills that complement the Barcelona style of play. He’s an example, of a player that could fit.”

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Could Kane Actually Join Barcelona?

Harry Kane has shone for Bayern. | S. Mellar/FC Bayern/Getty Images

Unfortunately for Vilajoana, he has missed the chance to strike a simple deal for Kane this summer. The prolific striker’s contract with Bayern includes a series of release clauses which will only become active at the end of any given season if Kane personally informs Bayern of his desire to pursue a move in January of that year.

The window to activate this year’s release clause has now firmly closed. “I'd like to make that clear,” club chief Uli Hoeneß confirmed to BILD.

“Harry is a stroke of luck for us. Because his release clause for the summer of 2026 has now expired and his contract runs until summer 2027, we are currently under no pressure.”

The expiration of Kane’s release clause does not mean a summer exit from Bayern is impossible, but it makes a proposed transfer significantly more complicated as Barcelona, or any suitor, would have to convince Bayern to sell.

Given Kane turns 33 this year, there will definitely be a price at which Bayern would do business, as was previously the case with Lewandowski, but that would almost certainly be stratospherically high. He has struck 41 goals in all competitions this season and has 126 in just 131 games overall.

Barcelona’s finances are rebuilding, but spending so much money on a player in the twilight of his career may be impossible for the Blaugrana.

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