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This content was machine-translated from the French version.
In the transfer market, a phone call can sometimes weigh more than a multi-million-euro check. Luis Enrique has understood this perfectly. According to information from L'Équipe published on Sunday, July 20, the Paris Saint-Germain coach personally picked up the phone to contact Ferran Torres. The objective was clear: to present the Parisian playing project to the FC Barcelona forward and the central role he would occupy in the starting eleven for the upcoming season, alongside Ousmane Dembélé and the club's young attacking talents.
A direct approach that left a mark. Ferran Torres, 26, reportedly felt "very touched" by this attention from the Asturian coach, according to the sports daily. A reaction that takes on its full significance when one knows the history between the two men over the past six years.
Ferran Torres, 26, reportedly felt "very touched" by this attention from the Asturian coach, according to the sports daily.
A relationship forged in the national team
The bond between Luis Enrique and Ferran Torres did not begin with this summer's transfer window. It was the current PSG coach, then the Spain national team manager, who handed the forward his very first international cap in September 2020, during a Nations League match against Germany. Torres was only 20 years old and was still playing for Manchester City. Since that September evening, their relationship has only deepened, with Luis Enrique giving him full confidence during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where Spain reached the quarter-finals, and then throughout the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Ferran Torres is also coming off a 2026 World Cup that definitively established him in the eyes of the general public. Coming on as a substitute during the final on July 19 against Argentina at MetLife Stadium in New York, it was he who scored the only goal of the match in extra time, with a right-footed cross-shot that sent the Spanish bench into raptures. That goal gave Spain its second world star, sixteen years after the 2010 triumph in South Africa. A national hero status acquired in an instant, which mechanically increased his market value.
A Parisian squad in transition
PSG is looking to strengthen its attacking department. The departure of Gonçalo Ramos to AC Milan, made official on June 30 for an estimated €60 million, has left a gap in the rotation. Luis Enrique still has Dembélé, Désiré Doué, and several talents from the academy, but the arrival of a versatile forward like Ferran Torres would provide welcome tactical flexibility. The Spaniard can play as a striker, on either wing, or as a supporting forward, a characteristic that perfectly matches the fluid football advocated by the Asturian coach.
The situation of Bradley Barcola adds another layer of uncertainty to the matter. While L'Équipe reports that the capital club officially considers him "non-transferable" and even wants to extend his contract until 2028, other sources close to the player mention a French international who is questioning his future after a frustrating World Cup with Les Bleus, eliminated in the semi-finals by the future Spanish champions. In this shifting context, the Ferran Torres track takes on both strategic and sporting dimensions.
Barça constrained by finances
On the Barcelona side, the lines have moved over the weeks. Long presented as a cog in the Blaugrana project, Ferran Torres has gradually seen his playing time reduced with the emergence of Lamine Yamal and the successive attacking signings made by the Catalan club. Above all, FC Barcelona remains mired in chronic financial difficulties that force them to examine every serious offer, despite recent progress in cleaning up their wage bill.
Barça would reportedly demand around €50 million to release their forward, who is under contract until June 2027. An amount that PSG, whose financial base remains among the most solid on the continent, could absorb without unbalancing their accounts. It remains to be seen whether Luis Campos and the Parisian management will fully share the coach's enthusiasm for this matter, which has become a priority.
A saga to follow
While this phone call from Luis Enrique marks a tangible step, the path to a signature remains strewn with obstacles. Barça has not yet given its final green light, and rumors link several Premier League clubs with an interest in the hero of the New York final. But by personally picking up the phone, the Parisian coach has scored decisive points in the mind of a player he knows better than anyone. The ball is now in the court of the Parc des Princes executives. It is up to them to turn this conversation into a concrete offer, and then a signature, to give Luis Enrique the attacking reinforcement he is asking for.
