Julian Alvarez's Transfer Saga: Atletico Madrid to Arsenal
Julian Alvarez has stopped turning up to Atletico Madrid training after being told, bluntly and privately, that the club will not sell him to Barcelona – and the only realistic escape route now runs through Arsenal.
Sources have told BBC Sport that Atletico informed Alvarez and his camp earlier this week that they will not even sit down with Barcelona over a deal for the Argentina international. No talks, no compromise.
Since then, the 26-year-old has missed two straight days of training, with illness given as the explanation. The timing has only sharpened the sense of stand-off.
Atletico have not tried to soften their position in public either. Across 24 combative hours, the La Liga side released two statements spelling out the same message: Alvarez will not be allowed to fulfil his wish of joining Barca in the coming days.
The door to north London, though, is wide open.
Atletico are prepared to sell Alvarez to Arsenal and have already held direct talks with the Premier League champions over what would rank as one of the summer’s headline transfers. Atleti director Mateu Alemany travelled to London last week, where he met Arsenal officials and made it clear the Spanish club want 150m euros (£128m) for their striker.
Mikel Arteta is pushing hard to land Alvarez this month. Arsenal’s manager sees him as a priority signing, but the player’s firm desire to move to Barcelona has stalled the English club’s pursuit and left the negotiations in limbo.
Even so, discussions between Atletico and Arsenal over a club-to-club agreement are described as positive. The framework is there. If Alvarez changes course and gives Arsenal the go-ahead in the coming days, the expectation is that a deal could accelerate quickly.
Barcelona, though, have refused to step out of the story. On Wednesday, after Barca president Joan Laporta publicly insisted they still want to sign Alvarez, Atletico fired back with a stark statement: “There is 0% chance of selling him to Barca.”
The Atletico board then went a step further on Thursday, issuing their own collective message: “The members of Atletico de Madrid’s board of directors have unanimously expressed their absolute support for the club's decision to not negotiate the transfer of Julian Alvarez to FC Barcelona.”
The lines are drawn. Barcelona shut out, Arsenal invited in, and Alvarez caught in the middle of one of the summer’s most volatile transfer sagas.
