Álvarez adopts a new strategy to leave Atlético in the winter transfer window

Álvarez is putting a new strategy in place to try to leave Atlético during the winter transfer window. The striker Julián Álvarez is going through an especially difficult period: he wants to regain his place and is seeking a departure, while he reportedly does not feel psychologically ready to continue with Atlético de Madrid after making his desire to leave public. That stance has been followed by highly tense situations.

The first change concerns his representation. Julián Álvarez has ended his relationship with agent Fernando Hidalgo and is reportedly close to an agreement with Javier Pastore to represent him. He believed it was necessary to cut ties with his agency to give himself the chance to leave Atlético de Madrid. Relations between Fernando Hidalgo and the club’s officials had broken down; Atlético general manager Miguel Ángel Gil Marín had said the player was receiving very poor advice and had been deceived.

Javier Pastore’s arrival could also help open discussions with Atlético de Madrid’s management. The aim would be to reach an amicable agreement on a departure in the future, in January or July. Julián Álvarez has therefore taken the step Atlético de Madrid had asked him to take. The international break also gave him a chance to get away from Madrid and regain a sense of well-being.

Arsenal is said to remain highly interested in signing Julián Álvarez and would be happy to discuss a player-exchange deal involving Viktor Gyökeres, who is reportedly not part of Atlético de Madrid’s future plans. For now, that remains a possibility rather than a completed transfer. More broadly, a worrying decline in the player’s market value could encourage Atlético to speed up the process: figures above 120 million euros mentioned during the summer are no longer at the centre of the discussion.

Barcelona, meanwhile, has taken no action and is not in a hurry to move, although Julián Álvarez would still prefer to play there in the future. The transfer could nevertheless be reconsidered if an opportunity to sign him arose. For now, the strategy is aimed first at creating a path to an amicable departure from Atlético.