KO for Andreas Christensen: Barça show interest in their No. 1 rival's star

Transfer file completely closed at Barça. Overall, the feeling among the culé environment is positive regarding the players who have joined the locker room this summer. Except for the defense, where Iñigo Martínez has unexpectedly left, the other positions have taken a step forward in terms of quality.

Although some pending tasks still need to be addressed in these last days of the transfer window, such as the registration of several footballers, Deco is already keeping an eye on 2026. Obviously, a year ahead, it's practically impossible to know what the team's needs will be, since the season is very long and anything can happen. However, there's no doubt that Barça will have to sign a center-back.

For this season, at least until January, Cubarsí will be the main guardian, while Andreas Christensen and Araújo will compete to accompany him in the center of the defense. The role of fourth center-back, when necessary, will be filled by one of the two backup full-backs, Gerard Martín and Eric García. The club's finances don't allow it to be any other way; at least, for now.

Even so, Deco has already started to scout the market to identify a top-level center-back who could join Barça to compete to partner with Cubarsí. For now, according to El Nacional, the favorite is a footballer who is very well known at Can Barça, since they recently faced each other. It's Alessandro Bastoni.

Alessandro Bastoni, number 1 candidate

Inter Milan's center-back delivered an outstanding Champions League knockout round in the semifinals of the competition last season against Barça. Unmovable in the nerazzurri line-up, Alessandro Bastoni is also one of the leaders of the Italian national team. Without a doubt, he's one of the best center-backs in the world.

As of today, his departure from Inter seems very complicated, since they won't let him leave at any price. However, next summer he'll only have two years left on his contract and, with that, La Beneamata could lower their financial demands. Barça are optimistic about this, since, in addition, Alessandro Bastoni has made a few gestures toward the culé club in recent months.

In fact, precisely during those Champions League semifinals, Alessandro Bastoni praised Lamine Yamal's talent, dedicating several statements of appreciation and admiration to him. In any case, Barça will work hard to secure a center-back of such caliber. Alessandro Bastoni is probably, at 26 years old, at the peak of his sporting career.

He grew up at Atalanta and in 2017 Inter already made a major investment of €30 million for his signing, although they then loaned him to La Dea and later to Parma. Since 2019, however, Alessandro Bastoni has been the general captain of the nerazzurri structure and one of the big names in Italian soccer.

Alessandro Bastoni would be the sixth

It's worth remembering that no Italian has played for Barça since Gianluca Zambrotta left in 2008. In fact, it was in the first decade of this century that we saw the five Italians in culé history wear blue and garnet. In addition to Zambrotta, we saw Demetrio Albertini, Francesco Coco, Thiago Motta, and Andrea Orlandi in blue and garnet, although the latter only played one match with the first team when he was in the reserves.

Alessandro Bastoni, then, would be the sixth on this surprisingly short list. For now, Deco has highlighted his name in yellow and negotiations for him will begin starting in July 2026. However, the competition is expected to be tough, since a large number of teams are expected to be interested in acquiring Alessandro Bastoni's services.

If this happens, the main losers would undoubtedly be Araújo and Andreas Christensen, who would see their chances of being in the starting line-up diminished. Alessandro Bastoni would arrive with the idea of being Cubarsí's counterpart in the starting eleven.