Barcelona president Joan Laporta says the club’s offer for Atlético Madrid’s Julián Álvarez stands and that the Spanish champions remain hopeful of doing a deal before the transfer window closes next week.
Barça had an offer worth over €100 million knocked back by Atlético earlier in the summer after making Álvarez their No.1 target to replace Robert Lewandowski.
Arsenal have also expressed an interest in Álvarez — who told ESPN in July he wants to leave Atlético — but the LaLiga side have so far insisted they will not let the Argentina forward leave.
“According to Vox Populi, it seems the player wants to join Barça,” Laporta told Barça’s official media channels on Wednesday.
“We’re keeping our hopes up and sticking to our plan — with all due respect to Atlético — of trying to sign him.
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“We would like to reach an agreement with Atlético; we are therefore standing by our proposal, our offer to Atlético, and hopefully there will be an understanding between the two clubs.
“And we are doing this, I repeat, with the utmost respect for Atlético, the club’s directors and for the club as a whole.”
Álvarez’s future has been one of the sagas of the summer, with Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, who claimed they failed with a €150m bid for the player, also having been in the mix for the 26-year-old’s signature.
Barça’s interest has particularly angered Atlético, who reported the Catalan club to FIFA and the Royal Spanish Football Federation for tapping up Álvarez.
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Despite that, Laporta insists Barça have behaved well throughout the whole affair.
“It goes without saying that Barcelona absolutely respect Atlético and the club’s directorate, who we have known for many years and have a lot of appreciation for,” Laporta added.
“We made a significant offer to Atlético for Julían, a player our coach [Hansi Flick] has a real interest in signing, which was ratified during a telephone call to [Atletico CEO] Miguel Ángel Gil Marín.
“He told me they would not transfer him as they didn’t have a replacement. I said when they have one, if the summer window was still open, we would be there to do a deal for Julián.
“That’s where it stayed. I spoke with [Barça sporting director] Deco and said to leave it on standby because it seemed they didn’t want to let him leave without a replacement.
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“Then we get information that Atletico are in negotiations with other clubs. Upon learning that, we’re in a situation where we want to maintain our offer and for them to transfer Julián to us, not another club.
“From there, through third parties of confidence who also have a relationship with the Atlético hierarchy, it was confirmed to us once again that they did not want to transfer him. But, after, we still had information that there were, well, talks [with other clubs].”
Álvarez told ESPN in June a “transfer would be best for all parties” and that he wanted to “fulfil his dream,” with sources confirming to ESPN his desire is to sign for Barça.
His behaviour during the affair has created tension with the Atlético supporters, with everything coming to a head during Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Villarreal at the Metropolitano.
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Álvarez was whistled before the game and then again, even more fiercely, when he came on as a second half substitute.
At full-time, when his teammates went and stood in front of the fans by the South Goal, he headed down the tunnel alone, responding to advice given to him by the club, according to coach Diego Simeone.
With less than a week to run in the transfer window, it remains to be seen if Atlético’s stance will soften and they will open up to the idea of transferring the former Manchester City forward to Barça.
Meanwhile, Arsenal are also in the background waiting to see if the player could be convinced to join them in the event a move to Barça proves inviable.
