Barcelona are building toward a significant squad overhaul this summer, with transfer activity now dominating the club's agenda as the new season approaches. The clearest sign of their ambition came this week when the club submitted an official bid for Borussia Dortmund winger Karim Adeyemi, a 24-year-old Germany international who has reportedly told the Bundesliga club he wants to leave. That move follows a sustained push for Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez, with president Joan Laporta publicly confirming the bid and stating that Alvarez wants to come to Camp Nou. Negotiations with Atletico have stalled, with Laporta accusing the Madrid club of being completely inflexible, but the pursuit continues.

The context for this activity is a club freed from years of financial constraint. La Liga's return to the 1:1 spending rule, confirmed earlier this month, means Barcelona can operate in the market without the crippling restrictions that shaped their recent recruitment. That shift in financial standing makes the Adeyemi and Alvarez bids possible in a way they simply were not before.

The squad is also changing shape in other ways. Robert Lewandowski has departed for Chicago Fire, leaving a striker vacancy that the club tried and failed to fill with Harry Kane before ruling out that option entirely. Marc-Andre ter Stegen is closing in on a loan move to Ajax, while Monaco have permanently signed Ansu Fati for €11 million. Barcelona head into pre-season with a friendly against CE Europa on July 24, but the real story this summer is being written in the transfer market.