Arsenal have secret weapon in Julian Alvarez race - but transfer still won't be easy

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Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez has become European football’s most wanted man.

Atleti boss Diego Simeone effectively told the world on Tuesday that the biggest clubs all want his centre-forward, declaring that Arsenal, Paris Saint Germain and Barcelona are all in the hunt this summer for his signature.

Arsenal will get their own glimpse at close quarters of the World Cup winner - who will lead Argentina's defence of the trophy alongside Lionel Messi this summer - when they face Atletico in the Champions League semi final on Wednesday night.

Former Manchester City striker Alvarez has been heavily linked with a move to Barcelona, who are moving on from Roberto Lewandowski this summer. And PSG are clearly in the hunt as well for a player who is valued at £120m-plus by Atletico... and that's a conservative estimate.

That sort of price would appear to be beyond Barca - but the Catalan giants somehow always manage to do their sums and get big transfers over the line when push comes to shove.

Of course, Atletico are not keen to sell and will no doubt have something to say about the whole transfer saga as they are keen to tie him down to a new deal. With Antoine Griezmann leaving, they'll be freeing up a decent amount of weekly salary that they can use to help persuade Alvarez.

The issue for Arsenal is whether they can both find the money, but also proving they are big enough and successful enough to lure Alvarez back to the Premier League.

He's still only 26 and scored 20 goals in 67 league games for Manchester City, while largely playing second fiddle to Erling Haaland.

Atletico splashed just over £80million to take him to the Spanish capital in 2024 and he has since flourished, going from strength to strength in La Liga. He can operate as a No.9 as a No.10 or even out wide if required. But the difference between him at City and him now is that he has matured, become a better player with his movement and finishing while his pace has become more noticeable.

He is a clever player with game intelligence who links the play well and brings other players into the game. He is made for Arsenal.

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There were some links to the Gunners last summer before they went for Viktor Gyokeres and sporting director Andrea Berta knows him from their time at Atletico. If anyone should be able to get a deal done with Atletico for their star man, then it should be Berta.

But Arsenal already have three strikers in Gyokeres, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, who has a year left on his contract.

Probably, Arsenal would need to offload two of those to make the money work to land Alvarez and if there was a suggestion that Gyokeres was signed as a back-up striker to Havertz - albeit for £64m - then there's no doubt Alvarez would be first choice.

The suggestion is he might be tempted to return to England. And Arsenal would be an ideal landing spot.

But they would have to put themselves on the top stage of European football. That means proving they can be winners. They are chasing the Premier League title and the Champions League. They probably need the cash rewards from winning both, too.

But Alvarez is a special player. It's just ironic he's also the main threat and main man standing in Arsenal's way of the final.

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