Lamine Yamal wants Julian Alvarez and Mikel Oyarzabal at Barcelona.

In an interview with COPE’s Tiempo de Juego from Spain’s World Cup base in Chicago, the winger was asked which forward he would bring to the Camp Nou this summer.

“Which striker would I sign for Barca? I don’t know. As long as he scores goals,” Yamal said, as reported by Barca Universal.

“I really like Julian [Alvarez] and Mikel [Oyarzabal].”

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The pairing is pointed. Atletico Madrid’s Argentine has been Barcelona’s headline pursuit of the summer, with the Catalan club sitting on a €100m bid that Atletico refuse to entertain.

Real Sociedad captain Oyarzabal, scorer of the winning goal in the Euro 2024 final, is a different profile entirely: left-footed, technical, comfortable dropping into midfield to link play.

Alvarez saga at boiling point

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has set an end-of-July deadline to either close the Alvarez deal or move on, according to Goal.

Atletico CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin has been unmoved, telling Spanish media that “Julian is not for sale” and accusing the Barcelona board of theatre.

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“They act in front of the media and the fans as part of their own private circus, so it doesn’t offend me,” Gil Marin said.

Alvarez, according to the same reporting, is now looking to force the move himself, with a public statement expected in the coming days.

“He’s a great player. If he comes, we’ll welcome him with open arms,” Yamal said of Alvarez. “He’d be joining the best club in the world, with the best fans in the world, in what I consider to be the best city in the world.”

He went further.

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“If I were him, I’d do it. We’re waiting for him if he wants to come. Go for it.”

What the wishlist reveals

The two names are not interchangeable. Alvarez would give Hansi Flick a central number nine who presses, drops between the lines and finishes off either foot, the archetype Barcelona lost when Robert Lewandowski’s contract expired and he left as a free agent for Chicago Fire.

Oyarzabal would offer a left-sided alternative with a captain’s mentality and a proven record in tournament football.

Barcelona have already added Anthony Gordon from Newcastle in a £69m-plus-add-ons package and are working to close a deal for Borussia Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi. Neither is a natural centre-forward.

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That leaves the striker slot as the summer’s unresolved question, and the 19-year-old around whom Flick is expected to build his attack has now told Spanish radio which two names he would prefer.

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