Arsenal are attempting to get a deal for Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez done before pre-season, as competition for the player looks to have regressed.
The 26-year-old finally came alive in this World Cup on Sunday morning, scoring the extra-time winner for Argentina in their 3-1 win over Switzerland with a brilliant curling long-range strike.
That ironically came as the options for the player appear to have lessened, due to the politics. Alvarez is open to an Arsenal move but his preference had been to stay in Spain, with either Barcelona or Real Madrid.
Atletico are nevertheless insistent on not selling to either of their rivals, as reflected in a series of spiky social media posts. They have been aggravated with the public nature of the campaigns both clubs have used.
Paris Saint-Germain had previously been interested, but amid a sense that was merely testing the situation as they survey a range of options.
That points to a few of the intertwining elements that have delayed progress on a few high-profile deals.
Alvarez has long been Mikel Arteta’s main attacking target, but Arsenal naturally looked at other targets as the deal seemed complicated. Bradley Barcola has been one of those, and Arsenal had been given encouragement a deal could be possible as the Qatar-owned club consider reshaping the attack, but PSG want to keep the young star.
The situation may well change again when the dust settles on a chaotic World Cup, but Arsenal are currently pushing on Alvarez.
A prior issue has been that they don’t want to go above £90m, whereas Atletico want north of £100m.
The deal also involves Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta negotiating with his former club.
Arsenal remain hopeful of securing Morgan Rogers, too, but the World Cup has slowed what was already a protracted transfer.
