Barcelona's €100m Pursuit of Julian Alvarez: Deco Responds to Atletico
Barcelona’s pursuit of Julian Alvarez has turned into one of the summer’s most bitter transfer sagas, and Deco has now gone on the record to defend the club’s role in it.
The Catalan giants had identified the Atletico Madrid forward as their priority signing to refresh an attack losing both Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres. The plan was clear: make Alvarez the new reference point in the front line.
The offer was just as bold. Barcelona put around €100 million on the table, spread across three seasons. Atletico’s response was even clearer — there would be no negotiation.
From there, the story stopped being a simple transfer and became a political fight.
Alvarez publicly declared during the World Cup that he wanted to leave. That statement detonated in Madrid. Atletico’s board reacted with fury, releasing a blistering communiqué that not only shut the door on any move but also accused Barcelona of unethical behaviour in the background.
The Rojiblancos didn’t stop at words. They are reported to have filed complaints with both the RFEF and FIFA, alleging tapping up and claiming the La Liga champions were trying to manipulate the media narrative around the player.
Deco, speaking to RAC1, pushed back hard.
“We have the information we have. We’ve done things properly,” he said, insisting Barcelona had followed the rules. “We made an offer and received no reply. There’s been more talk about it in the press. We spoke to them respectfully. They told us from the outset that they didn’t want to sell him.”
The sporting director stressed that the bid was not only formal but, in his view, fair — including the proposed payment structure.
“I can’t say much more than what the reality is. We made a formal and fair offer... We made an offer to pay over three seasons. There are clubs that pay over five instalments.”
Atletico’s accusations that Barcelona had pushed Alvarez to agitate for a move drew an even firmer denial.
“Barca did not tell Julian to publicly express his desire to leave Atletico,” Deco stated. For him, the noise around the saga has been inflated. “You can’t keep bringing up the same issue all the time. It’s much more a matter of social pressure than reality. There’s no more to it than that.”
With Atletico refusing to budge and Alvarez staying in Madrid, Barcelona had to rip up their initial plan.
Replacing Lewandowski like-for-like was never going to be straightforward. Deco openly admitted that finding another striker of the Pole’s stature on the market bordered on impossible, so the club shifted its focus to different attacking profiles rather than a direct clone.
That pivot led them to a new front line.
“If Julian hadn’t joined us, we’d have had to look for a similar profile. That’s why we signed Gabriel [Jesus],” Deco confirmed, outlining the logic behind the Brazilian’s arrival. The club also moved earlier on [Karim] Adeyemi when that door opened, and mapped out a different pathway for [Roony] Bardghji.
“With [Karim] Adeyemi, the opportunity came up earlier. As for [Roony] Bardghji, we were planning to loan him out.”
Alvarez stays at the Metropolitano. Barcelona move on with a rebuilt attack. The complaints, the statements and the accusations now sit with the authorities — but the next time these two clubs meet, the tension won’t be limited to the pitch.
