Atlético de Madrid's strategy to keep Julián Álvarez | OneFootball

As he prepares to face his second World Cup, this time already as one of the stars of the Argentina national team, Julián Álvarez is beginning to shape his future from afar. Barcelona has already made a multimillion-dollar offer and Paris Saint-Germain has long been trying to lure him, but Atlético Madrid is determined not to let him go. What strategy will they follow to secure the continuity of their biggest star?

The Colchonero side even went as far as mocking on social media the proposal made by the Catalan club. With jokes about how ridiculous the offer was, the intention was to make it clear that they would set the terms, and that they were not willing to negotiate over their best player. Despite this stance, unshaken until now, everything could change after the World Cup.

People close to Julián Álvarez have let it be known that the player’s intention is to seek a change of scenery. Although he has never said it openly, he had dropped some hints in post-match interviews, for which he was heavily criticized by the fans. If, upon returning from the imminent World Cup, La Araña takes a firm stand and asks to leave, there will be nothing anyone can do.

Be that as it may, in Atlético Madrid’s offices they remain unfazed by any kind of offer while preparing a financial package to improve his contract, and perhaps even extend it, even though the current one runs until mid-2030. The intention is to give him a world-class salary and basically make him the club’s flagship player. The issue will surely be settled when the back-and-forth with the player and his representatives takes place: if he wants to leave, he will not accept a new deal and they will have to start negotiating with Barcelona or PSG, so far the only serious suitors.

Here is Atlético Madrid’s secret plan: as the club made clear in its social media posts, it is not willing for the Calchín-born forward to end up playing for the Blaugrana side. That is why, if he were to ask to leave, they would already have a line of communication open with PSG for a sale that could be around 175 million euros. Of course, if the former River player’s only intention is to join Barcelona, this strategy would be pointless and they would have to sit down and negotiate.

Since his arrival in Spain for the second half of 2024, Julián Álvarez quickly became one of the key figures in Diego Simeone’s team. In two years he has scored no fewer than 49 goals in 106 matches, many of them decisive (he has five against Real Madrid and four against Barcelona), and he is coming off a Champions League campaign in which he led the way with 10 goals before Atlético narrowly lost to Arsenal in the semifinals. That is why his club already said no to 100 million euros, but that is far from meaning that La Araña’s continuity is guaranteed.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.