Thank you, @jerryy. The most relevant items on that menu are:
AE LOCK ONLY
AF LOCK ONLY
AE/AF LOCK
AF-ON
With any of the first three above, I lose the ability to track. The most promising would be AE/AF LOCK, but when I assign that function to the back button, even though I am in AF-C (front dial on C) and the AF MODE is on wide/tracking, the focus point is locked in the middle and does not move anymore when I recompose, in other words, is not tracking the subject anymore. The autofocus point does not lock on the subject anymore; it just stays in the middle when recomposing.
Tracking works as expected when in AF-ON. The camera tracks the subject while I move the camera or the subject moves, and it stays focused on the subject. But the spot exposure is totally decoupled from the autofocus point. I think it stays in the middle, therefore not exposing the subject but, instead, whatever happens to be in the middle of the frame at any given moment.
I feel that the function I am looking for would be called AE/AF-ON, but it seems that doesn't exist.
Another option could be to have the top shutter button expose while half-press on wherever subject the focus point happens to be while tracking.
So, while tracking, the back button would keep the focus on the subject while pressed, and the shutter release would keep the exposure while half-pressed.
Another workaround would be to lock the exposure on the subject first using the AEL button and then focus tracking with the back button, but if the subject is moving through different light conditions, which is a reason for using focus tracking, the exposure will be totally wrong, or awkward to change since my thumb is on top of AF-ON (back-button) tracking the subject.
Before the X-T5 I had a Nikon Z6II. This camera in autofocus tracking was also exposing the same place where the tracking was happening. If I wanted to, I could even decouple the exposure as explained above, i.e., the back button is autofocusing while tracking, but the exposure is not locked until the shutter release is half-pressed, and even in spot meeting, it would expose exactly where the focus point happened to be while tracking.
I am trying to achieve similar settings with the X-T5. Ideally, I would like the back button to both focus and expose whatever is focusing while tracking, I am not sure if this is not possible with the X-T5 and I have to change the way I shoot or I just cannot find the right menu combinations to achieve it.
If anyone knows, please let me know!