Atletico Madrid have taken aim at rivals Barcelona amid their approach for Julian Alvarez in a series of bizarre social media posts accusing them of a 'smear campaign' against them.
Hands-Off Warning and Transfer Speculation
Reports in Spain on Thursday suggested that Atletico had issued a furious hands-off warning to both Arsenal and Barcelona as they monitored Alvarez, though it was reported that £130 million would be enough to get a deal done. Former Manchester City forward Alvarez, meanwhile, has reportedly made it clear he wishes to leave the club - particularly for Barcelona - and will not sign a new contract.
Social Media Spat Escalates
But the feud escalated on Friday when Atletico's official X account shared a series of posts mocking Barcelona, which featured some of the Catalan club's players edited to be wearing a Madrid kit. The first post showed Barcelona's teenage sensation Lamine Yamal wearing an Atletico kit in an edited image. The caption read: 'HERE WE GO! We have sent a fax to @FCBarcelona_es with our transfer offer: 4 tickets for tomorrow's Bad Bunny concert, an annual subscription to ABC, and a bag of sunflower seeds. We eagerly await the response to prepare the "announce (sic)".'
A second post, shared just a minute later, featured the same theme, but this time with midfielder Pedri. The caption read: 'HERE WE GO! For this second offer we've had a problem, we've run out of tickets for tomorrow's concert, so we improve the previous proposal with 6 for the one on Sunday.'
The third, which included an edited photo of Raphinha, read: 'HERE WE GO! And to complete the 3x1, we've gotten all carried away and we're going to throw the little house out the window: the player arrives on loan for a season and in exchange we loan out Tom Ford and Smith with no option to buy. An offer impossible to refuse.'
Alvarez's Future and Contract Details
Alvarez, who has scored 49 goals in 106 matches for Atletico, reportedly believes Barcelona will offer him a better chance of silverware than Arsenal and Atletico. The 26-year-old currently has four years left to run on his contract, which contains a €500 million (£430 million) release clause - other reports have suggested that Atletico would in fact sell for £130 million.
Alvarez's agent Fernando Hidalgo increased speculation over his client's possible move to Barcelona after sharing a post on social media of him travelling into the city.
Atletico's Official Statement
A further post from Atletico read: 'Finally, we want to take this opportunity to categorically deny that we have made an offer to the sporting director of FC Barcelona to join our scouting team in the Brazilian market,' in reference to Deco. They continued: 'No, Atletico de Madrid would never do something like that. However, in recent months, we’ve been suffering a smear campaign against one of our players. Leaked information with ulterior motives, "fake news", constant disrespect, the cule version of the propaganda machine inventing little stories, calls before direct matchups.'
'But of course, it wouldn’t occur to us either to have the referees’ vice president on our payroll or to resort to political favors to register players. RESPECT and VALUES.'
They had initially said they were going to 'publish a statement about a relevant matter that is generating numerous pieces of disinformation,' and shared a video of a lion chasing a group of people, before it was revealed to be a dog. The caption read: 'Barca trying to sign one of your players.'
Background and Other Transfers
Spanish publication Marca reported on Thursday that Atletico Madrid has said they were 'tired of months of lies, half-truths, harassment of our players in mixed zones, and absurd questions that are all part of a pre-arranged campaign'. They added that Alvarez was 'not for sale'.
The outcry came as Barcelona were readying to officially announce Anthony Gordon as their player in a £70 million move. Gordon was initially set to be announced at midday, but, as of 8pm BST, he had still not been unveiled. It is understood that Barcelona still want to sign Marcus Rashford this season, but on another loan, as well as Gordon and Alvarez.
