Arsenal given priority to sign ‘betrayed’ star in record-breaking deal for top target | OneFootball

Arsenal have been given priority to sign Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez  as the La Liga side refuse to sell to Barcelona, according to reports.

The Gunners are looking to strengthen their attack in the summer transfer window after winning their first Premier League title for 22 years.

Arsenal have been boosted by their success in 2025/26 but they won’t rest on their laurels as they look to add to their squad once again this summer.

Earlier in the summer, it emerged that Arsenal were hoping to sign Alvarez from Atletico Madrid as they looked to ease the goal burden on Viktor Gyokeres, who signed from Sporting CP last summer.

However, all hope seemed to be lost over the last couple of months as Alvarez declared Barcelona as his preference this summer as he looks to move away from Atleti.

But, to Arsenal’s delight, Marca have revealed in a ‘confidential’ report that Atletico Madrid are prioritising the Gunners and Paris Saint-Germain this summer, as the two clubs have greater resources.

The La Liga side would rather sell to either Arsenal or PSG as it would be ‘less painful’ than handing Alvarez over to Barcelona, who are their rivals in the league and would potentially have to use players to secure a transfer.

Atletico Madrid are looking to get a fee of around €150m (£129m) for Alvarez this summer and that would break the club-record deal of £105m that Arsenal paid for Declan Rice.

Romano: Arsenal target Alvarez feels ‘betrayed’ by Atletico Madrid

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has now revealed that Alvarez feels “betrayed” by Atletico Madrid as they continue to deny him his dream move to Barcelona.

Romano said on his YouTube channel: “Álvarez feels betrayed by Atlético Madrid, and Atlético Madrid feel betrayed by Julián. It’s a very strange and tense situation because the clear position of the player is what he said in public, but also Álvarez in private told people from the Atlético board and Diego Simeone that he wanted to go.

“And when Álvarez says a transfer is the best solution for everyone, it’s because Julián believes that it was already clear to Atlético Madrid a long time ago that his desire was to leave in the summer transfer window. So Julián’s position is something like: ‘We already discussed about that, you know that I wanted to go, my agent told you that I wanted to go, why are you not letting me go now?’

“Atlético Madrid on their side are very clear: they don’t want to let the player go in general, but especially to Barcelona. With other clubs, they could be more open, for sure, but with Barcelona, they consider the doors closed. And they’re ready to go to FIFA, as has been announced, because of the relationship between the two clubs and because Atlético Madrid believe that Barcelona were pushing the player in order to arrive at this situation. So this is why Atlético feel betrayed and the player feels betrayed.

“The relationship with Simeone is really, really difficult. So this Julián situation is very tense, and it’s going to be once again one to follow. I don’t expect anything imminent, so I don’t think the Julián situation will get resolved by going to Barcelona or somewhere else this week. I think we have to be patient. It’s going to be a long saga, but for sure an interesting one.”