Barcelona president Joan Laporta said on Wednesday that the Catalan club’s formal offer for Atlético Madrid striker Julián Álvarez remains valid until the end of the summer transfer window, after what he described as mixed signals from the Spanish side.
Speaking about the situation, Laporta emphasised mutual respect between the two clubs. “First of all, we have absolute respect for Atlético Madrid and its officials. We also have personal appreciation for them because we have known each other for many years,” he said.
He outlined the sequence of events. Barcelona had made a club-to-club offer, which he personally confirmed in a private telephone conversation with Atlético chief executive Miguel Ángel Gil Marín. According to Laporta, Gil Marín stated that Atlético had no intention of selling Álvarez because they lacked a replacement.
“I told him that we were interested in the player and, of course, respected their position of not wanting to sell him. However, if they found a replacement during the current summer transfer window, we would be interested in signing him,” Laporta said. On that basis, Barcelona agreed to leave the matter for another time.
Subsequently, the club received information that Atlético Madrid were negotiating the player’s sale with other clubs. “Naturally, faced with this information, we said that we were still standing by our proposal and our offer, because it is well known that the player wants to come to Barcelona,” Laporta stated.
He rejected any suggestion that Barcelona had created controversy. “This situation created a controversy that was not caused by Barcelona’s actions, but because they told us they would not sell the player while, at least according to the information reaching us, they appeared to be trying to reach agreements with other clubs.”
Laporta said trusted intermediaries later contacted Atlético president Enrique Cerezo. He defended Barcelona’s approach as consistent with how the club deals with other teams, citing previous contacts with Manchester City and others. When those clubs declined to sell, Barcelona withdrew; in this case, he said, the circumstances differed because of the reported talks with rivals.
“The truth is that we are very interested in the player, and we would like our offer to be accepted. We are doing this with full respect for Atlético Madrid,” Laporta said. “We want them to know that if they are willing to sell the player during this summer transfer window, we are ready to sign him under the terms of the offer we have presented to them.”
The statements leave Barcelona’s interest in Álvarez active pending any decision by Atlético Madrid before the transfer deadline.
