Julián Alvarez still wants out of Atlético de Madrid, and he still wants his future to be at Barcelona. The forward is due to be in Simeone’s squad for the match against Villarreal on Sunday at 17:00, but that has not changed the feeling around him: he is training normally, carrying a serious expression, and waiting for a door that Atlético says is closed.
That is why the search around the cholo is so intense now. The dispute is not about whether Alvarez wants to leave; he told the club in March that he intended to go, and in June he even presented an offer from Real Madrid after giving the OK to the move. Gil Marín, though, had made the terms brutally simple: bring 150 million euros and a written commitment that the transfer would be accepted.
On paper, that figure was more than a price tag. It meant a buyer would need to show both the money and a formal pledge from Atlético that it would not back away once the offer arrived. Alvarez’s camp saw that path as open enough to explore, which is why the June approach from Real Madrid mattered. It was the closest this case has come to a concrete exit, and it showed that the player’s mind was already far beyond Madrid.
But the thread runs into a wall. Gil Marín has not wanted to receive Alvarez or his agent in recent days, and on Thursday he told the player he would not accept his transfer under any circumstances. Atlético considers the case closed. Alvarez and his agent do not. That split is the whole story: one side wants finality, the other still believes the market can be forced to move.
Fernando Hidalgo answered Gil Marín’s latest remarks with a sentence aimed straight back at the club: “Nunca le preguntes a un mentiroso por qué mintió. Para explicarse, tendría que mentir de nuevo.” Gil Marín had said Alvarez had not had the best advisers, but the response only deepened the break. The distance is also visible in training, where Alvarez and Simeone have become more distant, even if the player remains part of the squad and continues to work normally.
Barcelona remains the destination Alvarez wants most, and Deco is still moving in the market with him in view. That keeps the case alive even as Atlético tries to bury it. Unless the club changes its position before the window closes, Alvarez is set to stay in Simeone’s squad on Sunday, unhappy and unresolved, with the most important conversation still waiting to happen.
