Julian Alvarez has missed team training with Atletico Madrid for the third day in a row, this time intending to train on his own.
Marca report that for the third day in a row, Julian Alvarez isn’t going to take part in training with his Atletico Madrid teammates.
Alvarez had claimed illness for the previous two sessions, but in this case it seems he’s healthy enough to train alone, which Marca expect him to do later in the day.
Alvarez’s three absences from training directly follow his club’s decision to inform him that he has no chance of joining Barcelona this summer. It would be fair to suggest the timing is a little too coincidental.
Sami Mokbel reports for the BBC that Alvarez has been missing training ever since he was privately told the club wouldn’t sell to Barcelona, though the club are open to selling the player to Arsenal.
Mokbel adds that Atletico have already held direct talks with the Gunners, which are described as ‘positive’. If Alvarez gives the green light to the Arsenal move, the deal should happen quickly.
But Barcelona are another story, with Atletico’s latest statement from their Board of Directors unanimously backing the decision not to negotiate with their La Liga rivals.
“There has been and will be no negotiation with them (Barcelona) regarding the transfer of Julian Alvarez,” Atletico claim.
Gil Marin has since told Movistar: “My personal dream is for Julian Alvarez to stay at Atleti. If he wants to, we’ll look for an alternative, if he wants to leave the club. But never, never, never is he going to go to Barcelona.”
Alvarez seemingly now has the choice of either joining Arsenal or staying at Atletico. At this stage, it’s hard to say which way things will go, but he certainly doesn’t appear to be working on a reconciliation in Madrid.
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