FC Barcelona and Arsenal are closely tracking Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez as the Argentine international seeks a summer move to compete for major European titles.
Barcelona has emerged as the preferred destination for the 26-year-old forward, but Atletico Madrid firmly refuses to sell the player to their La Liga rivals, pointing to his 500 million euro release clause.
While Atletico resists a domestic transfer, the club remains open to sanctioning a sale to Arsenal, according to reports from Fabrizio Romano, who described the situation between Barcelona and Atletico as "very tense."
Arsenal Monitoring Situation
"Arsenal keep a close eye to the situation of Julian Alvarez and Barcelona," said football insider Fabrizio Romano during a YouTube broadcast.
The London club maintains interest following a setback in their pursuit of primary target Morgan Rogers.
"It's very tense between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, as you can see as I am telling you and I have been telling you for weeks," Romano said.
Atletico Madrid maintains that a sale is not their priority, yet market dynamics could force a resolution before the transfer window closes in August.
"Obviously, if Julian Alvarez can't go to Barcelona because Athletic don't want to sell the player to Barcelona," Romano said.
A potential transfer to Arsenal remains contingent on Atletico's final decision regarding the player's future in the coming weeks.
"Now, Atletico are saying they don't want to sell the player in general, but in case there is a broken relationship between Julian and Atleti and at some point they decide to sell the player in August, Arsenal could still be interested to the situation and could still keep a close eye to Julian Alvarez," Romano said.
Arsenal's transfer strategy remains focused on securing high-caliber attacking options following missed opportunities earlier in the window.
"So, we have to be very attentive to Arsenal now because losing Morgan Rogers is a big blow for Arsenal, is the reality," Romano said.
The club had previously prioritized alternative targets to strengthen their frontline ahead of the upcoming campaign. "He's the player they want," Romano said.
Negotiations for the player had reached advanced stages before hitting an impasse.
"He was the number one target, and so they were pushing and pushing to get a deal done," Romano said.
Barcelona's Concerns
Reports in Spain indicate that Barcelona manager Hansi Flick suspects Alvarez's agency is leveraging Barcelona's interest to secure higher salary packages from either Arsenal or Atletico Madrid.
"The striker has several options open to him.
He could stay at Atlético Madrid with a significant contract extension or listen to offers from other major European clubs, with Arsenal particularly interested.
In either case, keeping Barcelona in the running increases his negotiating power and allows his representatives to demand higher salaries, taking advantage of the fact that another giant is also interested in him," according to a report in Spain.
Barcelona sporting director Deco has been tasked with clarifying the forward's genuine intentions before committing transfer resources.
"The German coach continues to consider Julián one of the best possible strikers to complete his attack, but he wants certainty.
Flick doesn't want Barça to spend the entire summer saving money for a deal that may never have had a realistic chance of going through.
That's why he has asked Deco to let him know the Argentine's true intentions as soon as possible," the report stated.
Concerns remain within the Catalan club that their public interest is merely being utilized as tactical leverage in parallel negotiations.
"The fear is that Barcelona's interest will ultimately serve only as a negotiating tool.
If Arsenal needs to increase their salary offer to convince Julián, or if Atlético Madrid wants to secure him with an even more lucrative contract extension, being able to mention Barça as an alternative gives the player a strong position during talks with either club," the report added.
Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes advocated for Arsenal to finalize a deal for the World Cup winner.
"There's not even a debate. I don't think there's loads of top-class centre-forwards knocking about.
I don't see him as an out-and-out centre-forward, he's more of a drifter," Scholes said.
Scholes highlighted the competitive edge Alvarez would bring to the Premier League side given current market valuations.
"Atletico Madrid won't want to sell him to Real Madrid or Barcelona.
If he's £100m – [England midfielder] Elliot Anderson has just gone for £116m – and Alvarez is a match-winner. What a signing that would be," Scholes added.
Meanwhile, reports from Mundo Deportivo suggest Barcelona retains a 100 million euro bid while monitoring Arsenal's separate interest in Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior, which could shift Arsenal's focus away from Alvarez.
