FC Barcelona target Julian Alvarez has missed training due to suffering from depression, according to Spanish radio station COPE, citing anonymous sources.
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FC Barcelona target Julian Alvarez has missed Atletico Madrid training due to suffering from “severe depression” according to Spanish radio station COPE, citing anonymous sources.
Julian didn’t report for training ahead of Atletico Madrid’s Saturday night clash with Sevilla away from home. As a consequence, he’ll miss the match at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.
At present, the striker is currently caught in a tug of war between his parent club and Barca, for whom he is the number one target to inherit Robert Lewandowski’s number 9 shirt.
In early June, reports from Argentina explained that Julian had agreed a five-year deal with the Catalans.
Yet Atleti refuse to negotiate with the reigning La Liga champions, and are reportedly trying to push Alvarez towards Arsenal.
Booed at the Metropolitano in the Rojiblancos’ season debut against Villarreal, it seems that Julian doesn’t want to be there and he’s not wanted in the capital either. At least by the club’s famously fervent fans.
The war between FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid continues to play out publicly
After Barca president Joan Laporta made the unusual step of using his club’s official channels to communicate interest in Julian Alvarez, Atletico Madrid has responded through MARCA to say the Blaugrana has “0% chance” of landing their target, and also in an official statement.
On Thursday, Atleti’s CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin said that Julian was doing “really bad, because there have been people who have been in charge of deceiving and confusing him.”
“And I am very sorry, because I know him, we have been working with him for a long time. He is a great person, a great professional and a great footballer, [who is] completely confused and right now going through a very, very difficult situation, on a personal and professional level,” Marin added from the Champions League draw in Monaco.
Yet though we should never make assumptions regarding something as serious as mental health, surely it might be Julian’s predicament that is causing him to suffer.
The player is being held against his will, and the right thing to do would be to let him pursue his “dream”, as he put it at the World Cup, by joining FC Barcelona at a point where there are just five days to go until the end of the summer transfer window.
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