Barcelona have their centre forward. The deal with Arsenal for Gabriel Jesus is agreed, permanent, and worth a €10 million package plus add-ons. The medical is booked for Monday and Jesus travels with Arsenal's authorisation, a day before the window shuts.
It is the cheapest way out of a problem Barcelona have had all summer. Robert Lewandowski left on a free in May and was never replaced. Atlético Madrid refused all window to sell Julián Álvarez to a La Liga rival, and with that closed Hansi Flick spent Thursday night playing Raphinha as a false nine against Athletic Club, with Lamine Yamal and Anthony Gordon either side of him. It worked, 2-0, and it was still a forward line without a forward in it.
For Arsenal it is a sale at a price that reflects the position rather than the player. They paid Manchester City about £45 million for him in 2022. He has a year left on his contract, he had not been named in a matchday squad this season, and by this week he was not training with the first team at all. Mikel Arteta put it in the flattest possible terms: it is something to do with the numbers they have in the squad.
Those numbers moved fast. Arsenal have already sold Gabriel Martinelli to Al-Hilal for around £56.5 million in the same window, so a forward line that looked crowded in July has lost two of its parts in a week.
What Barcelona get is a 29-year-old who presses like the system demands and has spent two seasons interrupted by injury. At €10 million with add-ons, that is a bet the size of the risk. If he is fit, they have a proper number nine for the Champions League group they were drawn into, which opens with Manchester City at home and Paris away. If he is not, they have spent less than the fee they got for Iñaki Peña.
The window closes at 11pm on Tuesday in England and midnight in Spain.