{"id":1607,"date":"2026-04-10T21:18:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=1607"},"modified":"2026-04-10T21:18:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:18:33","slug":"arsenal-still-on-lookout-for-impressive-signing-gunners-part-of-soap-opera-only-just-begun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=1607","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal still on lookout for impressive signing \u2013 Gunners part of soap opera \u2018only just begun\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Arsenal can provide Barcelona competition in the chase for Atl\u00e9tico Madrid\u2019s Juli\u00e1n Alvarez for the summer window. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Two months ago, Sport Witness covered claims from Spain that Arsenal are in the mix to sign him.<\/p>\n<p>The striker has been leading the Madrid club\u2019s attack since joining them from Manchester City for \u20ac95m in August 2024.<\/p>\n<p>He has enjoyed a good run so far, scoring 47 goals and contributing 17 assists from 102 matches and 18 goals and seven assists are from 45 matches this season.<\/p>\n<p>His La Liga stats this season are as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Appearances: 29<\/li>\n<li>Starts: 22<\/li>\n<li>Total minutes: 1,902<\/li>\n<li>Minutes per game: 66<\/li>\n<li>Goals: 8<\/li>\n<li>Assists: 4<\/li>\n<li>Expected Goals: 7.7<\/li>\n<li>Expected Assists: 5.13<\/li>\n<li>Big chances created: 10<\/li>\n<li>Big chances missed: 8<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Argentina international is attracting interest from Arsenal, Barcelona and other clubs.<\/p>\n<h2>Gunners hovering around Alvarez<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sport.es\/es\/noticias\/barca\/delicada-negociacion-barca-atletico-madrid-128922079\">Sport<\/a> have a detailed report on Barcelona\u2019s efforts to try and sign Juli\u00e1n Alvarez and also mention Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n<p>Hansi Flick\u2019s side have made the 26-year-old their priority target and are in constant contact with his agent throughout this season via telephone.<\/p>\n<p>Barca sporting director Deco and the World Cup winner\u2019s representatives want to avoid a meeting in public to avoid annoying Atl\u00e9tico.<\/p>\n<p>For now, Los Rojiblancos are refusing to sell and if there\u2019s a sale, the talks will be held directly with clubs, without intermediaries\u2019 involvement.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this, the Camp Nou side aren\u2019t giving up. Their former sporting director, Mateu Alemany, is now in Madrid, and Barca remain hopeful their good relationship with him could help them in the Alvarez operation.<\/p>\n<p>Diego Simeone\u2019s side, for their part, intend to offer the South American an extension. They know it won\u2019t be easy, probably because of interest from Barcelona, Mikel Arteta\u2019s side and PSG.<\/p>\n<p>Atl\u00e9tico are \u2018fully aware\u2019 his agent is listening to offer from other clubs and is in talks with Deco.<\/p>\n<p>Sport immediately mentions Arsenal and the Ligue 1 winners, as these two clubs are still on the lookout. It isn\u2019t clear whether these two teams have submitted proposals with his agent.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona are keen on signing him but are well aware a potential move will depend on their own finances. That won\u2019t be the case for the Gunners and PSG.<\/p>\n<p>Sport end their report by stating that this soap opera is \u2018far from being resolved anytime soon, has only just begun.\u2019<\/p>\n<h2>Contract, value and agent info<\/h2>\n<p>Juli\u00e1n Alvarez will have four years left on his contract at the end of this season. His value, as per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transfermarkt.com\/julian-alvarez\/profil\/spieler\/576024\">Transfer market<\/a>is \u20ac90m. Agent Fernando Hidalgo is representing the former Manchester City star.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, the frontman said \u201cmay yes, may no\u201d when asked whether he will continue at Atl\u00e9tico Madrid after this season. This should give Arsenal, Barcelona, PSG and his other suitors hope to sign him in the summer.<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 2 -->\n        <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal can provide Barcelona competition in the chase for Atl\u00e9tico Madrid\u2019s Juli\u00e1n Alvarez for the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}