Atletico chief hits back at Alvarez camp amid Barcelona transfer saga | OneFootball

With less than ten days left until the end of this summer transfer window, clubs across Europe are trying to complete their remaining transfer operations with a high degree of urgency. This is also the case with FC Barcelona, who are still to complete their highest-priority task of the summer, i.e., the signing of a new center-forward to replace Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres.

The Blaugranes have a clear target for this purpose, i.e., the Atletico Madrid forward Julian Alvarez, and have been trying unsuccessfully for months to sign him. However, they have met with stiff resistance from the Colchonero club, who remain adamant about not selling their star player to the Catalan club.

The last few hours have seen some significant developments in this regard. The player, who had publicly declared his desire to leave the Madrid club during the World Cup, is keen to join Barcelona, and thus, recently rejected a move to Arsenal, despite reports of Atletico having accepted the Gunners’ offer.

However, as Mundo Deportivo has reported, the CEO of Atletico Madrid, Miguel Angel Gil Marin, appeared in an interview with EFE, and made it clear that their star forward was not for sale to any side:

“Atlético, like all the big clubs, is built with great players, and I’m clear that Julián is one of them, as well as a great professional. We must compete with our values, with people from within the club and with the best players from outside that we can bring in.”

The Colchonero official also criticized Alvarez’s agent:

“We’re going to help Julián and continue looking after him so that he can give us his full potential, because we need him to keep competing among the biggest clubs in Europe. We must understand that Julián hasn’t had the best advisers around him regarding his professional career in recent months.”

Meanwhile, he also called on his club’s fans to avoid showing hatred towards the player, after signs of “Alvarez out” were seen at the club facilities:

This is the third time the Atletico Madrid CEO has come out in public to declare Julian untransferable. Meanwhile, FC Barcelona continue to watch any developments at the Colchonero club, and to see whether the Argentine forward will be able to push his club into negotiating his transfer.