Atlético Madrid go on a bizarre social media rant about Julián Álvarez (Image: Getty Images)
Atlético Madrid have caused an unusual uproar on social media following suggestions that Barcelona are interested in signing Julián Álvarez. The striker has been the subject of intense speculation in recent months, with the Catalan club and Premier League champions Arsenal also reportedly interested. Reports in Spain even suggest that Barcelona have offered an initial bid of around £87 million.
However, amidst these claims, Atlético posted a series of strange messages on X (formerly Twitter). They started like this. “In the next few minutes, we will issue a statement on the relevant matters that are generating a lot of disinformation.”
“Here we go! I have sent a fax to Barcelona with a transfer offer. 4 tickets to tomorrow’s Bad Bunny concert, an annual subscription to ABC, and a bag of sunflower seeds. I look forward to your reply so I can prepare my ‘announcement’.”
The Spanish group later followed up with a similar post featuring Pedri, with the message: “Let’s go! This is our second offer, but we’ve run into a problem. We’ve run out of tickets for tomorrow’s concert, so we’re improving on our previous offer by giving you six tickets for Sunday.”
The final message focused on Raphinha, saying: “Here we go! And to complete the 3×1, we’re going to get carried away and throw the small house out the window. Players arrive on season-long loans, and in return we loan Tom Ford and Smith without an option to buy. It’s an offer impossible to refuse.”
Atlético Madrid added: “Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to categorically deny that we have made an offer to the Sporting Director of FC Barcelona to join our scout team in the Brazilian market.”
“No, Atlético Madrid would never do something like that. But in recent months we have suffered from a smear campaign against one of our players: leaks of information with ulterior motives, “fake news”, constant belittling, a (…) version of a propaganda machine that fabricates small stories, phone calls before a direct confrontation….
Barcelona are thought to be eyeing an £87m move for the striker. (Image: Getty Images)
“But of course it would never occur to us to add a vice-president of referees to our salaries or rely on political favors to register players. Respect and values.”
Meanwhile, an earlier statement denied reports suggesting Alvarez could be close to a move to Camp Nou as “pure lies”.
Atleti captain Koke also shared his thoughts. In an interview with Marca, he said: “After a very intense year with many matches and many stories, I was in Menorca with my wife with my phone off, and my phone off too.”
“I don’t know about any meetings. The only thing I know is that Julien is an Atletico Madrid player and has a contract until 2030 with a multi-million dollar release clause. That’s all I can say.”
“Julian, as I said before, he is an Atlético Madrid player. He is a young man who is giving everything. He is in his second year at the club. Since he arrived, everyone has been trying to sell him to Barcelona, then to the other side, then to the other side. And now he is an Atlético player until he comes out and says otherwise.”
