Atletico Madrid set Julian Alvarez transfer deadline amid Arsenal interest

Atletico Madrid are pushing for the Julian Alvarez saga to be resolved by Friday, essentially giving the 26-year-old a choice to make on his future. If Alvarez does agitate for a move to Arsenal , and the English champions meet an acceptable price, Atletico at least want the time to prepare for replacements. The Argentine has made clear his ultimate ambition is to go to Barcelona but Arsenal have continued to work on the deal, in the knowledge that Atletico absolutely do not want to do business with their LaLiga rivals. That stance was reiterated in meetings this week intended to resolve the situation. Atletico Madrid want the Julian Alvarez saga resolved by Friday (Getty) Barca could change that with an actual offer of around €150m (£128m), but there is a belief within both Atletico and Arsenal that the Spanish champions do not currently have the available budget to get close to that. Arsenal's feeling throughout this saga is that the situation could change, tilting in their favour the closer it gets to the end of the window. Another potential advantage that Arsenal have is that they can send forwards the other way. Atletico manager Diego Simeone has already been pushing to strengthen his attack, and both Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus are appealing to the Madrid side. There is the possibility that Gyokeres - or both - and a financial fee could be offered, greatly smoothing any deal. Alvarez's view on an Arsenal move is already understood to have softened, despite wanting to stay in Spain for both lifestyle and family reasons as well as the stature of a club like Barcelona. He has nevertheless been made aware that Arsenal would play him in his best position and build an attack around him, after a season where Simeone used him in an unusual role.