Mundo Deportivo<\/a>” the club was not behind those words, and that what happened does not square with how the management handles crises involving players.<\/p>\nAtl\u00e9tico: we did not contact \u00c1lvarez after the end of the season<\/p>\n
The club’s account is straightforward. \u00c1lvarez left the squad once the season ended to join the Argentina national team for the World Cup, and Atl\u00e9tico’s management have had no direct contact with him since.<\/p>\n
Sources explained that the only exchange between the two parties came within the usual framework, through the fitness coach who monitors players’ condition during international duty. That is routine and has nothing to do with the player’s future or his wish to leave.<\/p>\n
Management insisted it had opened no talks with \u00c1lvarez after the season finished. That is exactly why the story of the club inciting the player to declare his stance has left the corridors of Atl\u00e9tico so bewildered.<\/p>\n
Read also:<\/p>\n
Atl\u00e9tico Madrid leave out \u00c1lvarez: a step on the road to Barcelona?<\/p>\n
The club was expecting a move from the player<\/p>\n
Even without direct contact, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid knew a statement from \u00c1lvarez might be coming. The club’s officials had already seen a report published earlier by “Mundo Deportivo”.<\/p>\n
That report flagged the possibility of the Argentine striker making a move or going public on his future on 23 June, information later circulated and confirmed by other outlets.<\/p>\n
The move itself, then, came as no great shock. What did take the club aback were the later reports tying the player’s position to Atl\u00e9tico’s own management.<\/p>\n
Barcelona’s offer was not accepted<\/p>\n
Roots of the crisis stretch back weeks, to when Barcelona submitted an official offer for \u00c1lvarez that Atl\u00e9tico Madrid rejected on the spot.<\/p>\n
The offer, according to the report, reached 100 million euros to be paid in six instalments. The Madrid club’s management showed no interest and never studied it seriously.<\/p>\n
Atl\u00e9tico cling to privacy<\/p>\n
Atl\u00e9tico Madrid’s management, according to “Mundo Deportivo”, say they have long tried to keep such matters out of the media, especially where players’ futures and internal disputes are concerned.<\/p>\n
Privacy, the club believes, is the best route out of any crisis with its players, away from tit-for-tat statements and leaks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Atl\u00e9tico Madrid are baffled by reports in the Argentine media, chiefly on the ESPN network, claiming the club…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[179,24579,92,871,24139,6458,85,82,2457,265],"class_list":["post-70816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-atletico-madrid","tag-atletico-madrid-vs-malaga","tag-barcelona","tag-elche","tag-elche-vs-barcelona","tag-j-alvarez","tag-laliga","tag-madrid","tag-malaga","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}