Julian Alvarez Walks Alone at Atletico in Transfer Saga with No End – and No Winners

At the end of their first home game of the season, a 2-2 draw with Villarreal, all of Atletico Madrid’s players gathered by the centre circle, shook hands with their opponents and each other, then headed towards the south end of the Metropolitano. Almost all of them did, anyway: one was left behind. Julian Alvarez, the target of Barcelona, walked alone, his head down in silence, as he had been all afternoon and beyond. He was accompanied only by his thoughts and the whistles that followed him.

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No one was waiting for him on the other side. Alvarez went up the stairs, past a couple of security guards and turned left to an empty dressing room, not lifting his gaze and not invited to either. Four minutes would pass before his teammates came up the stairs together. But at least it was quiet now, for a little while. The noise had been loud; no one could recall supporters turning on their own player quite like this.

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Atlético’s fans, still his fans, had whistled him when his name was read out, whistled him when he had warmed up, whistled him when he came on wearing red and white there for the first time since April and since he declared it his “dream” to leave, and they had whistled him out of there too, for good. “Unhappily, this situation isn’t comfortable for anyone,” Jan Oblak said, and amid the damage done, the mutual accusations, the hurt pride and spited faces, nor is it easy to see a solution. The situation, in short, is this: Julián Álvarez wants to leave for Barcelona. Barcelona want to sign him. But he has a contract until June 2030, a €500m buyout clause, and Atlético won’t sell him. And definitely not to them.

The first time Álvarez hinted he may not continue was after facing Tottenham in the Champions League last March. The timing seemed odd then: it hadn’t been an easy season, the feeling that something was wrong growing and about to be confirmed, but he had just scored twice and Atlético had won 5-2. It seemed odder still when he chose the moments after Argentina beat Austria at the World Cup to announce he wanted to go. “It’s not the time to talk about this but nor can I hide,” he said. “I spoke with the people I needed to [at Atlético] and the best thing for everyone is a transfer. I want to fulfil my dream.”

There had been a “bid” that wasn’t really a bid at all from Real Madrid but the dream was Barcelona and they were the ones who had been speaking to Álvarez, planning how to make it happen. Which was one of the reasons why Atlético were so determined it wouldn’t, deciding to take a stand instead, make this a cause. This was not about him wanting to go, or not only, but about the way it had been done.

From New York, Joan Laporta claimed that Barcelona had made an “important” offer. “If Atlético are prepared to accept, fantastic,” he said, but they weren’t and they didn’t think much of the offer either. Atlético’s chief executive, Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, insisted they would not sell at any price: they had told Álvarez, his agent and Barcelona that. “I know Joan: he’s always acting up for the media, fans, his own personal circus,” Gil Marín said. “I told him: ‘Leave it, please. We don’t want to sell and won’t sell, stop insisting’. He loves to play the part but he knows perfectly well that Julián won’t play for Barcelona next season.”

Barcelona insisted that they had approached a potential transfer the right way, with “respect”, but Atlético reported them to the RFEF (Spanish Football Federation) and refused to budge, a statement made, territory defended. This had become a point of principle, examples to be made of them. The noise though refused to go away. When Álvarez arrived for pre-season, still wanting out, he cut an isolated figure. If every silence and furrowed brow was analysed to death, it was true that there was an absence about him.

Even if they’re not going. While Atlético quietly investigated other options, Gil Marín gave a statement again insisting that Álvarez was staying. “We can’t allow other clubs and media to dictate our policy and disrespect us,” he said. “We have values.” He attacked Álvarez’s agent too, saying that Alvarez had been poorly advised. To which Fernando Hidalgo – whose version has Atlético promising that if Álvarez publicly said he wanted to go, taking responsibility, they would allow him to – replied with a post: “Never ask a liar to explain why he lied; he would only have to lie again.”

As for the head coach, watching his superiors take the lead, he was ready to put Álvarez back in the team. “You can’t be clearer than the club’s been. It’s like when the judge says: ‘Denied!’” Diego Simeone said. As if it was that simple, the case so easily dismissed. While Atlético said they would “look after” him, while accusing Barcelona and Hidalgo lifted some blame from his shoulders, Álvarez’s return instead underlined that coming back from this might be even harder than anticipated, redemption more of a reach than imagined.