Barcelona rule out signing of Julian Alvarez amid unmoved Atletico Madrid stance | OneFootball

For the entire summer, Barcelona have hoped to sign Julian Alvarez as their replacement for the already-departed Robert Lewandowski. Hansi Flick and Deco are in agreement that the Argentina international was the perfect man to be their new star striker, although the chances of a deal being done continue to fade.

For months, Barcelona have tried to do business with Atletico Madrid, whose stance has been not to sell to a direct rival. Despite having Alvarez’s green light to sign him, a club-to-club agreement has never been close, and with only a couple of weeks to go until the transfer window closes, the Catalans are ready to move on.

As per El Chiringuito’s Jose Alvarez, Barcelona have decided to move on from Alvarez. They have been considering alternatives for weeks while still keeping the Atleti man as their leading target, but this will not be the case moving forward.

According to Alvarez, Barcelona’s decision regarding Alvarez was not influenced by money, as they consider themselves as being able to do a deal despite their well-documented financial difficulties. Rather, they have moved on after deeming the matter an “ego issue”, likely in reference to Atleti’s hard-line stance.

Who next for Barcelona?

It makes sense for Barcelona to move on now, considering that they will run out of options if they keep hanging on to Alvarez. They have identified a number of alternatives in recent weeks, such as Villarreal pair Georges Mikautadze and Ayoze Perez, while Arsenal’s Viktor Gyokeres has also appeared on their radar in recent days.

It will be very interesting to see who Barcelona go for in the remaining weeks of the summer transfer window. They can afford to go big on one player knowing that Anthony Gordon, Karim Adeyemi and even Hamza Abdelkarim can act as deputies, but it will be important to sign the right player that fits Flick’s system.