The Julian Álvarez pursuit has hit a wall.
Atlético Madrid won’t sell.
The player wants to leave. Barcelona have offered €100 million. And Diego Simeone’s side have not blinked once.
With time running out and a striker urgently needed, Deco has made his move.
Barcelona contact Mikautadze’s camp as Georgian striker gives green light to Camp Nou move
According to Marca, Barcelona sporting director Deco has sounded out the situation regarding Villarreal’s Georges Mikautadze, with the Georgian striker having already given his personal approval to a move to Camp Nou following direct conversations with Hansi Flick, who personally outlined what his role in the team would be.
Mikautadze has said yes.
The question now is the fee.
Villarreal signed the 25-year-old from Lyon for €31 million plus add-ons last summer.
His value has since skyrocketed.
And his release clause has automatically risen to €78 million as of August 15, an increase of 30% from the €60 million figure that was in place for most of the summer.
That mechanism, built into his contract, was designed specifically to protect Villarreal from exactly this kind of late-window scramble.
And it has worked.
Barcelona will need to find a fee somewhere between €60 million and that new clause figure to get a deal done in the remaining days of the window.
He has extreme qualities that match exactly what Flick demands from his centre-forward.
And Mikautadze may yet be the one who walks through the Camp Nou doors before the window shuts.
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