Ferran Torres closes in on Barcelona exit for Paris Saint-Germain move

Ferran Torres will not be stepping onto the field at the Ciutat Esportiva this Wednesday. It's no coincidence, nor is it a rest day granted out of fatigue: it's the clearest sign yet that his Barcelona exit is close to being finalized. The club has given him the green light to sit out training while the final details of his transfer to Paris Saint-Germain get worked out, a source confirmed to ESPN.

The 26 year old forward had been set to return to the squad this week after a three week vacation, a well earned break following the goal that gave Spain the win in the 2026 World Cup final. But his agents asked that he be kept away from the group while the paperwork gets sorted, and the club agreed without pushback.

The deal hasn't come together easily. PSG had already tested Barcelona with an initial offer close to 40 million euros, a figure the Catalan club rejected outright as insufficient. Now, with the Parisian side focused this Wednesday on the UEFA Super Cup against Aston Villa, both clubs are working to unlock an agreement that could land around 55 million euros, a fee that, incidentally, is almost identical to what Barcelona itself paid to sign him from Manchester City back in 2022.

Reunion with Luis Enrique

Should the transfer go through, Ferran will once again find himself working under Luis Enrique, whom he already knew from the Asturian coach's time in charge of the Spanish national team. At the Parc des Princes he'll walk into a locker room in need of reinforcements up front: PSG lost its starting center forward when Goncalo Ramos departed for Milan, and that's on top of the permanent exit of Randal Kolo Muani, who ended up signing for Juventus after his loan spell at Tottenham. Luis Enrique has experimented with Ousmane Dembele as a false nine in some matches, but he's looking to widen his attacking options heading into the new season.

What's notable is that Ferran began his career as a winger and ended up reinvented as an out and out center forward at Barcelona over the past two seasons. And it worked for him: last season he scored 21 goals in 49 matches, and playing in that same position for Spain, he was the man who scored the goal that knocked out Argentina at the World Cup.

For Barcelona, this departure means the club has to move quickly. With Robert Lewandowski already settled in with the Chicago Fire and Ferran halfway out the door, the club needs a reliable number nine as soon as possible. The name still generating the most buzz around the Camp Nou offices is Julian Alvarez, currently at Atletico Madrid.