Barcelona have identified Atletico Madrid star striker Julian Alvarez as one of their leading targets for the summer transfer window, and although a deal will be extremely difficult due to Los Colchoneros presently being unwilling to sell, they are chances for an agreement to be reached in the coming months.
Barcelona are not prepared to spend over €100m on a new striker, and at the moment, this is not enough for Atleti to consider selling. As such, the Catalans have communicated to Alvarez that in order for there to be any chance of a deal being done, he must make it clear that he wants to leave the Riyadh Air Metropolitano.
And according to Cadena SER (via Sport), there could be moves being made towards this. There is a feeling within the Atletico Madrid hierarchy that Alvarez is looking for a way out this summer, with the sense being that this has been the Argentine’s stance for a number of weeks.
Atleti bosses are also aware that talks have taken place between Alvarez’s representatives and a number of clubs, among them Barcelona. Paris Saint-Germain are also noted as having interest in a possible summer move, while Arsenal are also in the race alongside their fellow Champions League finalists.
Atleti won’t make it easy for Alvarez to leave
Even if Alvarez does communicate his intention to leave this summer, Atleti are clear that their stance will not be relaxed by much. They want big money to even entertain the possibility, which could make it difficult for Barcelona in their efforts to bring him in to replace Lewandowski.
It will certainly be interesting to see how the situation with Alvarez plays out over the coming weeks and months. The chances of him leaving do go up if he does express a desire to move on, but until now, nothing has been said officially to the club’s hierarchy.
