Atletico Madrid make new official announcement about Julian Alvarez’s transfer situation

Arsenal are trying to sign Julian Alvarez before Tuesday’s deadline.

There seems to be a new twist in this saga every few hours, but this one might well be the most significant yet for the champions of England.

Atletico Madrid’s Board of Directors have released an official statement, unanimously backing the club’s decision not to sanction a deal for Alvarez to move to Barcelona.

The statement reads:

“Atletico Madrid is open to negotiations that are part of the transfer market, but always in an ethical and professional manner and with respect between clubs.

“We fully support the position previously communicated by the club that FC Barcelona have not met these requirements and, as a result, there have been no negotiations, nor will there be any negotiations with them regarding the transfer of Julian Alvarez.”

The Atletico board added that they are “convinced that our player will understand the decision and focus on working in the best possible way to help the club achieve its objectives.”

Atletico Madrid announce they will not sell Julian Alvarez to Barcelona

Yesterday, Atletico released a statement describing the situation as one of dignity rather than money.

Today, they have gone further, making their position unanimous at board level and explicitly closing the door on Barcelona once and for all.

That surely is the end of that then, as far as Barcelona being involved.

It appears Alvarez now has two options: to continue at Atletico and try to repair a seemingly broken relationship with the fans; or return to England.

Arsenal would be the frontrunners to sign him, but there are rumours circling that Chelsea will get involved too.

The internal feeling at Arsenal is that they are confident they can agree a deal with Atletico, who want over £100million for the Argentine.

The Gunners also have the option to include Gabriel Jesus or possibly even Viktor Gyokeres to help sweeten the deal for Atletico.