The Argentine moved from River Plate to Manchester City for £14.1m in 2022 (on a 5½ year contract), winning the Premier League, World Cup, UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup (at City). Unhappy living under the shadow of Erling Haaland, he was reluctant to sign an extension, before moving to Atletico in 2014 (on a 6-yr deal) for £81.5m (+add-ons)
With the World Cup ongoing amid Barcelona’s €100m bid, Alvarez publicly expressed his desire to switch Atletico Madrid for Barcelona, a decision that irked the Rojiblancos fans and hierarchy. Atletico had turned down offers from’ Barcelona and Real Madrid, insisting the club will not strengthen their direct rivals
Alvarez was greeted with boos and jeers by fans in their 2-all home draw against Villareal on Sunday. He cut a forlorn look when he left for the locker room alone as the fans whistle at their star.
With Arsenal reportedly keen on signing the 26yo before the September 1st deadline, the Barcelona Chief in one last desperate attempt had this to say:
“First of all, we have absolute respect for Atlético Madrid and their officials. We also have a great deal of personal respect for them, because we have known each other for many years.
“I would like to explain how everything happened, because at Barcelona we made an offer to Atlético Madrid, from club to club. I personally confirmed that offer during a private phone conversation I had with Miguel Ángel Gil Marín.
“He told me that they had no intention of selling the player because they did not have a replacement for him going forward.
“I told him that we were interested in the player and that, of course, we respected their position of not wanting to sell him. But if they found a replacement during the current summer transfer window, we would be interested in signing him.
“So, after Atlético Madrid confirmed that they would not sell him, we said: “Okay, we’ll leave it for later,” because, in principle, they did not have a replacement and therefore we could not sign the player.
“What happened afterwards? We received information at the club that Atlético Madrid were negotiating with other clubs over the sale of the player.
“Naturally, after receiving that information, we said that we still stand by our proposal and our offer, because everyone knows that the player wants to come to Barcelona.
“So this situation created a lot of noise, but it was not caused by Barcelona’s actions. They told us that they would not sell the player, while it appears, at least according to the information reaching us, that they are trying to reach agreements with other clubs.
“After that, through people we trust, we contacted Enrique Cerezo. Enrique Cerezo later made some public comments.
“With all due respect to Enrique Cerezo, I believe Barcelona acted appropriately and did exactly what we normally do with other clubs. The same thing happened with Manchester City, and there have been other clubs we contacted to ask whether they were willing to sell one of their players. When they told us, “No, we are not selling,” we left it there.
“But in this case, there are special circumstances because we are receiving information that Atlético Madrid want to sell the player to other clubs. That is why Barcelona are still there, and the offer we made remains valid until the end of the transfer window, in case Atlético Madrid decide to sell the player.
“The truth is that we are very interested in the player. We would like our offer to be accepted, and we are handling the situation with complete respect for Atlético Madrid.
“We want them to know that if they are willing to sell the player during the current summer transfer window, we are ready to sign him based on the offer we have already made to them.”
