Deco sets the record straight on Julian Alvarez pursuit: ‘Barcelona did not tell him to publicly express his desire to leave’

Speaking to RAC1 (h/t SPORT) in an exclusive interview, FC Barcelona sporting director Deco has opened up on the club’s prolonged pursuit of Julian Alvarez during the summer transfer window.

The Atletico Madrid striker was the Blaugrana’s priority target for the summer following the departures of Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres.

However, the Rojiblancos held firm on their stance that the Argentine was not for sale, despite Barcelona tabling an offer worth around €100 million.

Atleti’s position remained same despite the fact that Alvarez came out and publicly declared his desire to leave.

Instead, the Colchoneros pointed fingers at Barça for tapping him up, lodging complaints with the RFEF and FIFA, while also accusing the La Liga champions of spreading misinformation in the media.

Deco sets the record straight

During the interview, Deco laid out all the facts regarding Barcelona’s pursuit of Alvarez and how the thing panned out during the summer.

“We have the information we have. We’ve done things properly. We made an offer and received no reply. There’s been more talk about it in the press. We spoke to them respectfully. They told us from the outset that they didn’t want to sell him,” he said.

Alvarez was Barcelona’s top target. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

“You can’t keep bringing up the same issue all the time. It’s much more a matter of social pressure than reality. There’s no more to it than that.”

The Barcelona sporting director also made it clear that the club did not ask Alvarez to act and speak out publicly.

“Barça did not tell Julian to publicly express his desire to leave Atletico.”

On Julian’s situation

Further discussing Alvarez’s situation, Deco did not rule out returning for the Argentine international in the future, citing his own example from his playing days at FC Porto.

“I can’t say much more than what the reality is. We made a formal and fair offer,” he said.

“I can speak from my own experience. When I was a player, the Porto chairman wouldn’t let me go to Barça. He told me to stay for one year and that the following year I could go wherever I wanted.

“I stayed, and my only option was to play well and wait for the next year. I had an offer from Chelsea, who were paying more, but I wanted to go to Barça,” Deco further noted.

No issues with Alemany

Deco insists he has no issues with Atleti director Mateu Alemany. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, there have been a lot of speculations about the payment structure that Barcelona had offered for Alvarez, as well as the alleged bad blood between Deco and his Atletico Madrid counterpart, Mateu Alemany.

Clarifying those rumours, Deco said: “We made an offer to pay over three seasons. There are clubs that pay over five instalments. I’ve got no problem with Mateu Alemany; I haven’t done anything to him. I don’t know if he’s got a problem with me.”

Talking about how Barcelona went about their plan to bolster the attack after Alvarez’s pursuit failed, Deco explained:

“I don’t want to talk any more about Julián. We’re clear that our players are versatile. It’s practically impossible to replace Lewandowski. As for Ferran, we do have the solution within the squad, even if Gabriel hadn’t joined us.

“If Julián hadn’t joined us, we’d have had to look for a similar profile. That’s why we signed Gabriel. With Adeyemi, the opportunity came up earlier. As for Bardghji, we were planning to loan him out.”