Atletico Madrid CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin insists the club will not sell Julian Alvarez to Arsenal or Barcelona and believes the Argentine forward has been badly advised during the summer transfer window.
Arsenal have made a fresh approach to sign Alvarez and have indicated that they would be willing to pay in excess of £100 million for the 26-year-old.
However, Alvarez’s preference is to join Barcelona after he publicly declared during the World Cup that he wants to leave Atletico before the end of the summer transfer window.
But Atletico have been angered by Barcelona’s approach for Alvarez and are refusing to negotiate with the Spanish champions after their €100m (£85.5m) offer was rejected earlier this summer.
Exclusive Premier League previews
Get ahead of the start of the season with our weekly football newsletter. Sign up now for free.
Alvarez, meanwhile, has faced abuse from Atletico supporters as a section of fans chanted against him during the 2-0 win at home to Malaga on Wednesday, while signs saying ‘Julian OUT’ were seen outside of the club’s training ground on Friday.
Speaking to EFE on Friday, Gil Marin insists that Atletico remain fully behind Alavrez and accused rival clubs of being disrespectful in their pursuit of the Argentina international.
‘Atletico Madrid, like all great clubs, is built with great players, and I’m certain that Julian is one, as well as a great professional,’ Gil Marin said.
‘We must compete based on our values, with homegrown talent and the best players from outside that we can bring in.
‘We are going to help Julian and continue to take care of him so that he can give us his full potential, because we need him to continue competing among the greats of Europe.
‘We must understand that Julian has not had the best advisors around him regarding his professional career in recent months.
‘We cannot allow other clubs and their affiliated media to dictate what we have to do, dictate our sporting strategy, and disrespect us.
‘That’s precisely what they’re trying to do – divide us. It’s clear we’re not as powerful as they are but we have values. We Atletico fans won’t let them corrupt us. Atleti is strong when we’re all together.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
