Julian Alvarez and Florentino Perez (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun, David Ramos/Getty Images)
Julian Alvarez always looked like potentially being one of the biggest stories of this summer’s transfer window, and it’s already kicked off in a major way in the last 24 hours.
The Argentina international has been a top performer for Atletico Madrid, even if his La Liga goals tally from the season just gone were a little underwhelming.
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There was always likely to be a lot of interest in Alvarez this summer, and so it’s proven as Real Madrid made the strange decision yesterday of announcing that they’d had a bid rejected for the player.
Here’s a breakdown of what’s been going on and what could happen next in this crazy Alvarez transfer saga…
Real Madrid reveal failed Julian Alvarez transfer bid
Having just won re-election as Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez seemingly followed through on his vow that he would be making a €150m bid for a ‘Galactico’ signing.
Perez sparked plenty of speculation when he made this claim about an unnamed transfer target, and this was yesterday confirmed as being Alvarez.
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“Following the meeting of the board of directors held today, it has made an offer of 150 million euros to Club Atletico de Madrid for the federative rights of the player Julian Alvarez,” Real Madrid said in a statement on their official site.
“After reviewing and evaluating the offer, Club Atletico de Madrid has expressed its gratitude for the proposal, made within the framework of the good relations between both clubs, and has rejected it, referring to the player’s release clause.”
Atletico Madrid hit back
Needless to say, Atletico Madrid were not too happy with how their rivals behaved here, with this first X post below simply responding with laughing emojis…
????? https://t.co/niaipF1IWv
— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) June 9, 2026
They followed this up with two more posts, with the first…
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