Barcelona could be paying a considerable price for their decision not to meet Club Bruges’s £42m valuation of Nicolo Tresoldi during the summer transfer window. The 22-year-old German striker has since scored three hat-tricks in 26 days — including a treble in Bruges’s 4-3 Champions League win at Inter Milan — and has now attracted reported interest from Arsenal and several other European clubs.

According to journalist Florian Plettenberg, Barcelona made concrete enquiries in the final days of the window but sporting director Deco was unwilling to meet Bruges’s asking price.

Barcelona transfer news: what Tresoldi has done since being snubbed

On October 25, Tresoldi scored all three goals in Bruges’s 3-2 win over Sint-Truiden, completing his third hat-trick in less than a month. He had previously scored three times against Inter at San Siro in the Champions League and added another treble for Germany’s under-21 side against Malta.

His overall record now stands at 12 goals in 14 appearances across all competitions for Club Bruges this season, with a further four goals in three matches for the Germany under-21s. That form does not guarantee consistent production over the full campaign, but it confirms a player capable of delivering in high-pressure fixtures.

Barcelona transfer news: why waiting could prove even more expensive

Club Bruges signed Tresoldi from Hannover in 2025 for around £6.3m, and he went on to finish last season as the top scorer in the Belgian top flight with 19 league goals. His contract runs until 2029, which places Bruges in a comfortable negotiating position.

With Arsenal and other European clubs now reported to have registered interest, the Belgian side has little incentive to reduce their valuation. A January move at anything close to the summer figure looks unlikely. Barcelona may ultimately find themselves competing in a larger field of bidders and paying considerably more than the £42m they declined to spend in August.

The question for the Catalan club is not whether Tresoldi is definitively worth £42m, but whether his profile justified an early commitment before rival clubs drove up the price. If he continues at his current rate, the figure that appeared excessive in the summer may come to look like the reasonable cost of a missed opportunity.