Arsenal could turn to Julian Alvarez after Vinicius Junior’s decision to stay at Real Madrid, according to a report.
Gary Jacob reports for The Times that Arsenal will need to pivot after Vinicius Junior’s contract extension to stay at Real Madrid, but the Gunners aren’t only looking at left-wing options.
Jacob writes that Mikel Arteta’s main target for a forward addition has been Julian Alvarez, hoping that Atletico Madrid continue to refuse to sell to FC Barcelona.
Alvarez obviously wouldn’t fill the left-wing spot Arsenal are still working on, but perhaps it’s always been likely that the Gunners would only be able to afford either a big-money striker or a big-money winger this summer.
Esteban Edul reports for ESPN Argentina that Alvarez will hold a key meeting with Atletico on Monday. Alvarez will sit down for talks with Diego Simeone, and the club president will be updated on the outcome of that conversation.
Alvarez has been on holiday in recent weeks, having reached the World Cup final with Argentina, and Monday will be his first day back.
Officially, Atletico’s stance is that the player is not for sale (particularly not to Barcelona), but they’ll want a big fee if they do change their minds on that.
If Alvarez insists to Simeone that he’s set on leaving, and if Atletico continue to refuse to sell to Barcelona, that would then open the door to an Arsenal move.
But there are clearly a lot of parts that still need to fall into place, and as Arsenal have discovered with Vinicius, it only takes one u-turn from one party for everything to fall apart.
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