The latest are Alvarez and Dembele: stars who rebelled to wear the Barcelona shirt
Playing for the Blaugrana has a special magic.
Julián Álvarez's desire to move to Barcelona, and the tension it created with Atlético Madrid, was not the first case of a player rebelling against his club in order to fulfil the dream of wearing the Catalan shirt.
Spanish newspaper "Mundo Deportivo" shed light on a number of stars who, in earlier eras, pressured their clubs or took things up a notch until they finally landed at the Camp Nou.
Álvarez leads the current crop. After Argentina's clash with Austria at the World Cup, he made his feelings plain: "The best for everyone is the move, I want to fulfil my dream". His standoff with Atlético Madrid rumbles on, driven by his determination to leave and join Barcelona.
Dembélé: disappeared from Dortmund
Ousmane Dembélé stands out as one of the clearest examples. His pressure on Borussia Dortmund escalated until he stopped turning up to training altogether. Peter Bosz, the coach at the time, described him as having become "of unknown whereabouts" after the club failed to reach him.
The French winger got his way in the end. He forced through a huge move to Barcelona after insisting on leaving the German club.
Griezmann refuses to return
Antoine Griezmann pulled off a similar trick in the summer of 2019 to engineer his exit from Atletico Madrid. He simply stopped showing up for pre-season training. Barcelona then triggered his 120 million euro release clause and got the deal done.
Coutinho requests departure
As for Philippe Coutinho, he lodged an official transfer request after Liverpool declared their determination to keep him.
The English club refused at first. His stance eventually forced the Liverpool board into sanctioning his move to Barcelona in January 2018 for 135 million euros.
Mascherano, Fàbregas and Eto'o
The list didn't stop there. Javier Mascherano forced his way out of Liverpool before signing for Barcelona, while Cesc Fàbregas trained alone at Arsenal in protest at his stalled departure.
Samuel Eto'o took his fight public, battling Real Madrid to secure a move to Barcelona. He even issued a statement declaring his desire to pull on the Catalan shirt.
Now, with his crisis dragging on, Álvarez could become the latest star to rebel against his club in pursuit of a move to Barcelona.
