“Julián Alvarez has opened the door to his exit.”
That’s Marca’s headline on Monday as the Madrid sports daily reports that Alvarez has no intention of renewing with Atlético de Madrid — even after the club offered to make him its highest-earning player — and opinion is split within the club as to how to proceed with its flagship player.
Atlético’s ask for Alvarez is a club-record €150 million transfer fee, according to David Medina and Isaac Suárez. Diario AS was first earlier this month to report on this fee being high enough to push Atlético into selling Alvarez, who scored a team-high 20 goals across all competitions this season.
Marca reports that Alvarez’s sale is being considered in some quarters of the club because no progress has been made on renewing the player’s long-term contract — which doesn’t expire until 2030 and even in current form would be enough to keep La Araña at the club if Atleti don’t receive an attractive enough offer for the Argentina international. New majority owners Apollo Sports Capital reportedly do not plan to invest large sums of money in the playing squad this summer, and selling Alvarez would provide Mateu Alemany a runway to reshape a squad that has many holes to patch following a fourth-place finish in LaLiga this season.
Alvarez’s preferred destination is FC Barcelona, where he believes the two-time defending Spanish champions have a project that will guarantee him titles in the years to come. That is consistent with leaks that have emerged from the Catalan media and inside the player’s camp for over a year. However, while Barcelona are poised to spend normally in the upcoming summer transfer window, Atlético doubt that Barça can immediately undertake a €150 million operation like signing Alvarez; hence club president Joan Laporta’s campaign to lower the player’s value through declarations in the press.
However, others inside the club believe that Atlético have to keep Alvarez at all costs, even if PSG and Arsenal — clubs who can get close to paying what Atleti would want — escalate their pursuit of the player following this weekend’s Champions League final. In addition, Marca contests the narrative that Alvarez’s relationship with Diego Simeone has cooled, and the daily’s report ends by leaving open the possibility that the 26-year-old will have “no choice but to honor his contract.”
As I wrote yesterday, in principle nothing about Alvarez’s situation has truly changed, even in light of this report. He is under contract for four more years, his relationship with Diego Simeone might not be the warmest but is professional at the very least and the club has made it clear how highly he is valued: the €150 million transfer fee would be the third-highest in the history of football.
If Alvarez is sold, to Barça or anywhere else, then Atlético are resetting its competitive timeline and forging a new project built around Pablo Barrios, Ademola Lookman and Marc Pubill — who was named to Spain’s squad for the FIFA World Cup on Monday. That might clash with Cholo Simeone’s ambition to win the Champions League before his contract expires in 2027, especially after his Atleti side reached the competition’s semifinals this season.
It’s a complex and nuanced situation, and the club absolutely can’t afford a summer-long soap opera centered on Alvarez — especially as Barcelona are totally willing to turn this into a lengthy affair, as they know Spotify Camp Nou is the player’s preferred destination. Of course, unless Alvarez goes on strike and refuses to turn up for preseason, there’s not much he can do to make that wish come true if his valuation isn’t met.
