Despite the sale of Samu Omorodion to Chelsea falling through, Atlético de Madrid have already announced Julián Álvarez as their star signing
Atlético de Madrid have officially signed Argentine striker Julián Álvarez from Manchester City, signing a six-year contract until 30 June 2030, after passing the relevant medical examination and formalising the documents.
Through its official channels, first with a drawing of ‘Spiderman’ (the attacker is nicknamed ‘the spider’); then with a video entitled ‘Spider, a new red and white universe’, and finally with a statement, Atlético announced the long-awaited reinforcement for its forward line.
“Atletico Madrid and Manchester City have reached an agreement for the transfer of Julián Álvarez, who has signed for our club until 2030. He is a versatile, fast, skilful striker with a great ability to link up with his teammates,” the red-and-white club said.
The Argentine striker arrived in Madrid on Sunday and today underwent a medical before being announced as a new player for the club. However, his public presentation with Atleti will have to wait as sources tell ESPN that it could be at the end of the week or even after the first LaLiga match that Diego Simeone’s team will play on Monday 19 August at Villarreal.
The transaction was closed at a figure close to 75 million euros, which could reach 95 million euros with the variables.
The 24-year-old striker won everything with City but failed to establish himself as a regular in the starting eleven due to the presence of Erling Haland and was looking for a new club where he could be a regular.
Atlético offered him that chance and did not hesitate to make him the second most expensive player in its history, surpassing Thomas Lemar and only below Joao Felix, for whom they paid 127 million euros (138.70 million dollars) to Benfica in 2019.
The club from Madrid have also signed Alexander Sørloth from Villarreal but want Julián to be the new leader of the attack alongside Antoine Griezmann.
Furthermore, the idea is that Giuliano Simeone will be the other forward who will complete Atleti’s attacking line with a more secondary role.
Julian Alvarez scored 36 goals and won six titles at Manchester City. Getty Images
JOAO FELIX
Samu Omorodion’s transfer from Atletico Madrid to Chelsea fell through on Sunday night, but the clubs are now negotiating the possible arrival of Joao Felix to the English side so that Conor Gallagher can play for Civitas Metropolitano.
The double agreement for Omorodion to wear the Blue shirt and Gallagher to continue his career in Diego Simeone’s team was a done deal pending the signature but everything fell apart at the last minute on Sunday for contradictory reasons according to different versions.
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Joao Felix is negotiating with Chelsea
The Portuguese, who played for Barcelona last season, is in talks with the London team.
Joao Felix now has the key to unlocking the deal and his agent, Jorge Mendes, is already working to help Chelsea sign the former Benfica player so that Atlético can also complete the transfer of Gallagher.
However, Atlético and Chelsea already had an agreement of around 40 million euros for Gallaguer but the Colchoneros need the Blues to sign one of their players for a similar amount to be able to meet that payment. Joao Felix already spent six months on loan at Stamford Bridge in the 2022-2023 season and scored 4 goals in 16 games.
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The former Benfica player was on loan at Barcelona last season and is still not in Simeone’s plans, so this is an exit that has the approval of all parties, as the Portuguese striker does not want to stay at the Metropolitano either. The lack of understanding between the striker and the club that paid 120 million euros for him in 2019 has been noticeable since his departure to Chelsea.
The purchase of Conor Gallagher and the departure of Joao Felix are closely linked for financial reasons. Gallagher’s signing by Atleti is valued at 40 million euros, so the operation for the Portuguese will be, at least, in the same figures. For his part, the English international midfielder arrived in Madrid last Thursday and Atleti even announced on their social networks that the midfielder visited the Metropolitano.
