Some Gooners remain divided about the prospect of Julian Alvarez becoming a Gooner this summer.
While the potential transfer fee is enough to put some supporters off, another issue appears to be bothering sections of our fanbase: they don’t want Arsenal being anyone’s sloppy seconds.
But should it really matter if Arsenal were not Alvarez’s first choice?
Alvarez Has Made His Preference Clear
No one can accuse the Argentine of not making it clear what he wants for his future publicly, telling the media during the World Cup that Barcelona would be his dream.
Atletico Madrid feel disrespected by how open he was to the press, although they themselves have not exactly negotiated in the most professional manner, using social media to tell the world they have laughed away bids from the Spanish champions as well as Real Madrid.
To clarify, it’s not like those offers were not for large sums of money. The figure is not an issue, but rather a desire to no longer be pushed around by Spain’s big two.
A section of home supporters at the Metropolitano made it clear on Sunday they don’t want to force someone to wear their shirt if he thinks the grass is greener, booing the 26-year-old every time he touched the ball.
Unless he can have a heart-to-heart with Diego Simeone, remaining in the Spanish capital would be unlikely unless he apologised.
So the Gunners are not his first option, but it’s being reported he’s becoming more and more receptive to a move to North London as he accepts his ideal choice is not on the table.
For some of my peers, they don’t find that acceptable.
They don’t want the Premiership winners to be seen as a stepping stone.
The fear is we invest a lot in an asset who, in a couple of years, is flirting with a move to Barcelona again. If, though, we have more trophies in our cabinet, then do the ends justify the means?
Sources are saying Viktor Gyokeres could be available for the right price just one year after the Swede did everything to force an exit from Portugal, so loyalty works both ways.
It’s called a business.
Football Is a Career
This, though, is where I’m going to upset some readers!
Whisper it quietly; the majority of Mikel Arteta’s squad didn’t sign for him because they grew up dreaming of being a Gunner. They chose a workplace that matched their ambition but ultimately who paid them the most.
That’s not to say over time an individual doesn’t form a bond and affection for their surroundings, like anyone does in their working environment. Yet football is no different from any other industry.
If you found a vacancy with a higher wage and personal growth, are you disloyal for applying?
If you’re not successful, does that mean your professionalism should be questioned if you end up at another job that wasn’t on top of your shortlist?
That’s the accusation against Alvarez, that he wouldn’t be motivated in the English capital.
To clarify, he’s not being forced on a plane against his will. If he signs a contract with us, it means he wanted to. It means he considered us the best move for his career, and that’s what this is: a career.
It would be naive to think there will be current members of our dressing room who don’t have aspirations to play for Real Madrid or Barcelona. Yet you wouldn’t question any of their integrity.
Should Alvarez be any different just because he’s been honest about his wishes?
Sergio Aguero once famously was unhappy that he had a move across the Spanish capital blocked. That didn’t stop him from scoring goals and winning medals at Man City. There are other examples I can name.
The Spanish media, though, must love Arsenal at the moment as we continue to give journalists easy headlines to write.
After the Vinicius Jr. contract situation, we are now part of another saga in another part of Madrid.
Dan Smith
Would you be happy for Arsenal to sign Julian Alvarez even if Barcelona were his preferred destination, or should the Premier League champions only pursue players who see Arsenal as their first choice? Let us know in the comments.
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The difference is that Alvarez adamantly and publicly communicated his desire to join another Club. This will send a wrong signal to the Arsenal squad that loyalty is not important
I didn’t have a good feeling about this deal… I hope we miss it and save the money for other player…
*don’t
Hope he stays in Madrid….we dont play second fiddle….footballing wise he was anonymous playing them last season and the world cup….disaster written all over it, not to mention 128 million….
Really good article.
I agree. If he signs with us, that means he wants too.
I can appreciate why he prefers Barcelona. He is a native Spanish speaker and Barcelona is one of the best clubs in the world with a storied history.
I don’t care if he signs with us being his second choice. As long as he comitts to playing hard for us, that’s all that matters. There’s no reason why he wouldn’t
His ONLY choice!!!!! Apart from staying at AM where he has burned his bridges. He is now missing training at AM not because he wants Arsenal but because he wants Barca. We would be Mugs to pay the astrnomical ammount. If it was 20 or 30 mil, then not a problem but, the risk is not worth it.
If that is the case with Alvarez’s behavior, then I would avoid him altogether. However, if our club cannot resist, then we would be absolute fools to pay 120 million.
Who else is in for him? Ath Madrid will not sell to Barca, so who else is left but us? Secondly, that being the case, we would have a greater position in negotiations, so I would offer significantly lower, say around 70 million or so.
Otherwise, he can stay where he is; he ran his mouth, pi$$ed the bed, now has to sleep in it.
No idea how this ends up getting resolved in a week, but if he does end up coming he should have our support like any other Arsenal player.
Having spent a few years in the EPL already, he reportedly has good reasons for wanting to stay in Spain that have nothing to do with Arsenal or Barca per sé.
I agree with Stephanie, but would like to add, how many players that have played for us ever regretted it? Most fall in love, so welcome him if we get the chance. This is one of the best strikers around. Let’s make him ours!
I don’t think Alvarez has anything against Arsenal as such.
It could just be the desire to remain in Spain as a result of family and other sundry considerations.
And if he remains in Spain, what other club is better to join than Barca, more so when Barca really want him.
What we call player loyalty exists only for as long as the player is not confronted with an enticing proposal.
So if Arteta and the decision makers think Alvarez is right for Arsenal, and the player finally decides to join, I am fine.
There is no denying the quality of the player and the prospects of him taking us to the next level
Yes, but Arsenal should care about Alvarez’s performance at Atletico Madrid last season and in World Cup
He’s obviously not strong enough to do consistent hold-up play and tall enough to win aerial balls, nor is he lethal enough to score many goals
His most consistent abilities are his high press effort, stamina, work rate, touches and link-up, but I’m not sure those will be enough for a main CF in Arteta’s system
There are more affordable CFs who’re better in the air
Better then what we have
Attack as things stand will be weaker then last season
This last season, from what it I have seen him, maybe 12 games. I am not overly impressed? Definitely not worth the money.
As a Jesus replacement, yes but anyone else, I don’t see it.
Havertz is better in the air, Gyokeres is obviously stronger and Merino is a good false-nine
Arteta has also not given Martinelli a second chance for the CF role yet. Maybe the Brazilian can play as good as Aguero did at Man City
Moise Kean’s abilities seem similar to Alvarez and the Italian is available cheaply as compared to the Argentinian
Martinelli could be as good as aguero? Sorry, I don’t see how you could imagine that – aguero’s goalscoring instincts were elite as was his close control. He was levels above martinelli
Likewise moise Kean is nothing like Alvarez. Alvarez’ close control and link play is miles ahead and he scores all types of goals. Issue with Alvarez is a tendency to go a bit quiet in games, I think, and there’s something I can’t put my finger on which holds him back (and it makes me question the transfer fees being talked about) – but he is a top class talent imo
At Gai, I really don’t understand Arteta’s obsession for Alvarez, I don’t rate him. I really don’t #ee how he will outperform Havertz and Gyokeres considering EPL physicality. Also, I would have preferred Arteta to have tried Matunelli as false in games before selling him.
If Alvarez was so so good at City PePG wouldn’t have sold him, obviously City wanted more from him. I would rather spend more on Osimehin.
Trossard. Gyokeres. Saka.
Martinelli. Havertz. Madueke.
Tzolis. Havertz. Saka.
Eze. Gyokeres. Madueke.
I believe Tzolis will be an upgrade to Trossard.
Eze can do well in the left wing if he works hard and decides not to be nonchalant.
He is only becoming receptive of coming to Arsenal because he os burning all his bridges and Athletico will not let him go to his dream club. He left England because he had problems with family and Visas. That has not changed. It could turn out to be the biggest financial mistake Arsenal have ever made. Signing a player, who has no choice.
True Reggie, it seems like he has put himself in a position where he has no choice.
Seems no one besides Arsenal and Barca are heavily interested, and the latter is not happening.
One word for us if we sign him for a rediculous fee, MUG.
Arsenal should find some one else. He may pull the same trick in a couple years to push through his dream move to Barcelona. He does not want to come to Arsenal, but knows that he has already alienated the Athletico Madrid fan base and ownership. He is only going to use Arsenal as bridge to get to Barcelona.
Or even next year, and something tells me we won’t recognize a gain on his sale or do sufficiently better because he is here. If the deal goes through I can only hope I’m wrong and the opposite occurs.
Lets get Osimhen .. agreed Alvarez just waiting for Barca… might gaooennenzt season and we losw or kakw a small amount in whichcase not a bad deal for one season if he helps us win CL ..
not sure he is really that good whereas Osimhen is different and can put the ball in the back of the net!!
He’s not world class, and he will never be world class, his stats prove that, the absurdity in signing a player who only wants to play for Barca is unbelievable, Arteta needs to be told to drop it…
Preparing to pay a record breaking 9 digit sum and in the meantime not getting the respect of the bought is a double whammy to Arsenal. Pep let him leave easily without any commotion for a reason. As was indicated in the article if he now joins Arsenal he may again wait for a suitable time to engineer a move to his dreamland Barca.
Enzo to City, Romero from Spurs, Martinez to Chelsea, Senesi to Spurs. Argentina’s WC players are unsettled everywhere and their mark is they don’t exit silently
I think he is overated,
Didnt do that much at wc, didnt even make the list.
If he was that good Pep would not have sold,
I would take him for 130, if he has a 160 release clause that expires on 29th Birthday.
He has a good champs league return, but against poor teams.
Hes league return is not that great.
Patrick Vieira was asked about the biggest regret of his career and he said turning down Real Madrid when he was at Arsenal.
Truth is, almost every elite player dreams of playing for Real Madrid or Barcelona. If he comes and gives us 2-3 wonderful seasons,he can still get his dream move – I won’t mind.
Alvarez is better than anything we have. With him,we not only improve our chances of winning, we also improve our style of play because of his elite technical ability- he’s such a ‘Wenger-coded’ player. Arsene would love him.
I’d be happy to do a straight swap deal with Gyokeres and maybe give them an extra 10mil, take it or leave it Atleti.
Onyango,
The only silverware missing from Pat Vieira’s CV is the UCL title. So it’s understandable if Vieira in hindsight regretted rejecting Madrid’s offer. He wouldn’t have said that if he had won it at Arsenal.
Nowadays UCL title can comfortably be won by not going to Madrid or Barca. It’s been more than 10 years since Barca won it
Christos Tzolis said the same thing a year ago , so what the heck
All the great Argentinans legends of the game built their iconic legacies at the Catalán Giant, Roman Riquelme, Maradona, Messi etc.
But as fans we are bias and selfish, so it becomes dificult to show empathy, but the Spaniard must act in the club interest and try to sign the kid
GS – I don’t think maradona or riquelme built their legacies at Barcelona.. they both played their, but maradona was quite brief and is much more remembered for turning Napoli into champions. Riquelme didn’t really work out at Barcelona (they played him out of position) and rebuilt his reputation at Villarreal, surely – and even then, riquelme never really built a legacy to match his talent imo
That said, I do understand the lure of Barcelona – it’s a massive club and it’s star players are the biggest stars. Imo Barca and Real Madrid are a league of their own in terms of status in the game.
Alvarez is honest about his preference for Barca.
Spanish is his ‘first’ Language.
He has his Family to consider.
That’s all fair enough.
BUT
If, as the article, and many of us have previously highlighted – his heart is set on Barca, will both Alvarez AND Barca, be agitating for a move in every Transfer window.
That undermines Squad Harmony and Cohesion and is bad for the Club’s Morale AND Global Professional Business Image and Brand.
His ‘commitment’ may (or may not) be undermined if his heart is so strongly focused on Barca.
IF he and Barca agitate for a move and don’t get it – he seems like an impetuous and stubborn minded guy – will he ‘go on strike’ and spend all his time making little or no real effort, just walking around the pitch like Ozil – while trousering probably between 250K – 350K per week.
He’s not a Free Transfer – he’s costing £128M
Even if all these point’s turn out to be unfounded, and that may well be the case – they are still GENUINE deeply Red Flags.
On balance. trying to be as objective as possible – I’d probably NOT go for it.
We don’t want a pining player. We don’t want to be the get out clause either. Its not worth the aggro. He will always want to play for Barca.
Can’t see the problem with signing him
Fans can’t honestly believe every player that we’ve signed that we were the number one destination for them .
Quality player and better than we have in the squad ,not sure the price is on point though .
I am of the opinion that we don’t really need him.
We have enough in that department with Havertz, Gyokeres and Merino as back up.
If we are going to spend big, spend it on a left winger. Then we have depth there with Tzolis rotating.
I’m not going to b upset if we do sign him, and in Arteta/Berta I trust.
What I don’t like is the interest Atletico have in Gyokeres. With a fit Saka and a Tzolis who seems to give out assists for breakfast, Gyokeres will put quite a few away!
To spend £130M on a player that clearly would be joining us as a last resort is not good in my book. Yes not every player we sign would maybe class us as their first choice. But when you’ve got a player who is making it quite clear what his preference is, they should be a no go as far as I’m concerned.
Arsenal need to stop wasting time waiting on this transfer, and start going for a player who is willing to come to us.
Although that said, anyone who thinks that Arsenal are dragging their heels. They may not be, they may need a player to move first before they can make that move.
That’s when we’ll hopefully see some transfer movement from them.
I agree we should not get too sentimental but not sure how this makes good business – shelling out north of £100m for a player who does not want to be here and has a history of mucking a club about
He is better than the options we have for central striker,but,and it’s a big but, i very much doubt if he will be accepted by a majority of our fans, who, rightly or wrongly, consider him to be a reluctant hero who would jump at the chance of moving to Barca if the opportunity arose.The fees being paid during this transfer window for average players is beyond belief.Alvarez is well above average but overpriced.Tzolis is an example of what can be achieved and their are others out there of a similar mold.While I like Alvares, i hope we turn our attentions elsewhere.
He scored 8 goals in La Liga last season! A swap deal with Jesus and a couple of quid would be a good deal. 😀But nothing more. Not on his salary!
Agree, was going to write exactly the same. Well my offer would be 20 mil🤣
Feck me… is that true. 8 goals?
Since Atletico made a statement in the last couple of days that Alvarez will not be sold to Barcelona in no uncertain terms.
He’s not missed two days of training, citing illness as the reason. This for me is another reason Arsenal should leave this player well alone.
What happens if he comes to us on a three year contract and after the first year he starts with his Barcelona dream again. He’s going to do the exact same thing he’s now doing to Atletico.
No, as I said leave this player well alone.
He’s now missed two days of training. OOPS!.
Derek, with this saga they’ll surely be putting out a daily if not hourly update on his movements and unfortunately in every sense of the word.
Bruised Banana,
His movements, you’re on fine form today. 😂🤣
Just off topic, but Arsenal have shown once again their terrible record regarding getting decent fees for players.
The latest being Reiss Nelson, I’ve just read on the Arsenal Website that Nelson and the club have both agreed mutually to terminate his contract. In other words no club wanted to pay for him, no doubt.
What is it with our club and transfers. 🤦♂️
It was always going to happen. He cost us nothing and we got nothing. At least we didn’t lose money thats a good result for Arsenal 😂
There goes the pure profit.🤔🤣
The travesty, Derek, was elevating his profile by paying him £100kpw. Imagine!?! Apparently West Ham wouldn’t pay £3m and he didn’t want to drop down a division. Priceless that at 26 he thought he could command a premier league club after being loaned out and also featuring sparingly
Getting him off his £5.2m salary for his remaining season seems like a cunning plan to me
predicted this would happen
I seem to remember most of us thought it was a ridiculous contract Dan.
no I meant them ripping up deal to get him off wage bill
happens too often
it tells clubs why offer anything when you can just wait and Arsenal will give them away
hope we get a fee for Vieria
Yes
Give me Viktor any day.
Pray we don’t sign Alvarez.
Yet another example of our awful record in selling players.
We should nickname Arteta the “Terminator” as he seems to love terminating players who he’s rewarded ridiculous contracts to!!
As for saying he cost us nothing….what about his ridiculous wages that SueP mentioned?
It seems the only way we can make money is by selling the likes of Martinelli at a give away price in today’s market and as an example, Forest have just paid a reported £50,000,000 for a Chelsea reject, Delap, who, as usual, make a healthy profit themselves and followed that up by selling another reject, Jackson, to Villa for a reported £65,000,000!!!
Yeah getting Reiss’s salary off the books can only be a win for financial flexibility.
As regards the Martinelli price vs Chelsea player prices. He only has 1 year left on his contract (as compared to the Chelsea sales, who both had 5 years left) and a salary of 180K p/w. Delap and Jackson were only on 100k p/w (same salary as Nelson!). All figures in I guess.
By the way, apparently Martinelli will earn £330K a week at Al Hilal! That’s gotta be attractive for him.
But Martinelli openly said give me a pen and I’ll sign…. I want to stay…. There would have been no problem whatsoever with Martinelli signing a new contract.
Still can’t see why we are so easily mugged in the transfer market and, of course, Nelson cost us millions!!
Next thing we will see the Terminator terminating Viera and Gabriel’s contracts or letting them go for peanuts!!
“Give me a pen and I will sign ” I remember Jon Fox asking, ” Is there not a single pen to be found in the whole London ”
But Gabriel Martineli was probably the first young player to commit to Arteta ‘s visión at Arsenal, signing a long term contract extension in July 2020 shortly after the Spaniard took charge.
Sad how he was push out , the legendary Frenchman will be as well
Yeah I don’t really get it either.
I made a point to Reggie about Chelsea who basically hoovered up loads of potential, gave long contracts and as mentioned by B below, less money. Some will fall by the wayside but others will have value. They have too many players so have been able to offload several at a good profit. Also by having bought all this potential they have skewed the market because there’s then a lack of availability for other clubs looking to strengthen. It then becomes a sellers market as Chelsea has proven. Perhaps they weren’t so daft after all.
Arsenal aren’t the only club to have players on ridiculous wages who go on to lose their place either by lack of form or from recurring injuries. It’s a catch 22 situation and that’s why (in general terms) I’m rarely on the side of the player. Look at Rashford ffs! We can discuss the poor man management of Arteta with Martinelli but overlook other situations where a player can and does hold all the cards. Cast iron contract so no need to move on in the event of the club preferring another option. Pushing to leave and leaving the club in the lurch.
However, Vieira was a poor signing and whoever scouted him made a boo boo. It was too much money. Whoever was in charge of player contracts back then wasn’t up to the task and several academy youngsters got pay rises way beyond their worth
Some serious money has been spent by several clubs – most notably Spurs and some selling clubs have found themselves in a position that they have to sell (Newcastle and Villa) for financial reasons. They have had to sell. Arsenal fortunately don’t but if an offer came in for Odegaard or Saliba it wouldn’t be peanuts
Whenever I think of how City could sign the best some years back, I’m reminded of 2 signings that were costly and haven’t been the success story they expected (Phillips and Grealish). It happens.
I suspect Spurs are trying to do the same thing, offering long contracts on relatively low wages to players like Savinho, but could be digging themselves a hole spending £300m on players, including at least a few new ones on 200K+ salaries in one window (Tonali and Marmouche, plus Fernandes at 175K). Anything to get better than 17th I guess!
Just getting back on the Alvarez debate. I see it reported today that Arsenal are still pursuing him. I personally don’t want him at the club, but if Arteta does I can’t do anything about it.
But if they are going to still go for him, they better get him. Because the window shuts very soon, and how stupid would it be if they missed out on him, and we then get no-one.
We need another left-sided player if Martinelli goes that’s for sure.
As I say I wouldn’t go for him. We’re wasting so much time on him, I hope it doesn’t back-fire on us.
DEREK
As armchair managers we were wrong about Raya, this is where the Spaniard dip his bread
Do we know for certain we were wrong about the necessity of acquiring him? Could we have been wrong, of course as most of us recognize that Raya is now one of the best keepers in the world. However, as good as the end is in this case, it doesn’t always justify the means and we don’t know how history for the club and the individuals involved would have changed if he had not been acquired.
huge gamble mate
think the club are letting others back in it
Saw that Mateta is now available for £25m if we needed a third striker. Could use the other £100m we’d need to get Alvarez on an extremely good winger.
But hey, not my job 🙂
Mateta @ £25m would be a steal even at half speed especially if great crosses become more plentiful now. What a “plan B” that could be.
I noticed today that Martinelli looked happy in training. What that means I don’t know, but it appears that there’s no animosity between him and the club.
But then again in all his time at the club, Martinelli has been nothing but professional in my opinion.
DEREK
Very interesting observation, think good sense prevail in the end, but I do get the feeling Ian Wright intervention was paramount.
I’m waiting to see if Martinelli is in the squad on Monday versus Villa. If he is, then surely that would mean he stays?.
Nah, the deal between Arsenal and the Saudis club is all but done.
As I understand it, since Ian Wright rant Arteta had spoken to the kid , and that discussion may have gone down well
Treating people with respect is big deal in certain culture, have noticed the gaffer is suddenly saying, ” Gabi knows how much we all love him”