Raphinha agrees with the technical duo formed by Hansi Flick and Deco. The coach and the sporting director agreed in their analysis: if neither Julián Alvarez nor Lautaro Martínez arrive, there is no player in the market who improves the forwards that Barça has in its squad.
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Barcelona insisted and continues to insist to the point of irritating Atlético de Madrid over Julián Alvarez, and Deco’s minimal inquiry to Inter about Lautaro served to realize that it would be impossible to catch goals in Milan. But Flick and Deco were not worried. At least, not too much. Raphinha played as a number 9 in Barcelona’s debut against Elche and scored two goals; against Athletic, the Brazilian repeated as striker and scored again. “I don’t care what position Raphinha plays, for me it’s what he shows on the field. The fans connect with him and with the team. We have a great atmosphere and that’s what matters. It’s important how the pressure starts,” the coach highlighted about the attacker.
Raphinha finds his place at Barcelona, but Julián has no peace at Atlético. While the player continues recovering at home from an indisposition — he missed training again — the boards of Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid fuel the crossfire. Always with the player in the middle. And even though Atlético assures that the Argentine forward is “really unwell.” As soon as he had a microphone nearby, Gil Marín, CEO of the Madrid club, did not hesitate to lash out at Barcelona and, in passing, send a message to Alvarez’s environment. “We are disgusted by falsehood, lack of ethics, transparency, professionalism, and we can only insist that we will not negotiate with Barcelona under any circumstances,” Gil Marín stated. And he added: “There have been people who have taken care of deceiving and confusing him, and I regret it very much.”
Gil Marín responded this way to president Joan Laporta, who on Wednesday had tried to send a public message to Julián Álvarez: “We remain very interested in Julián, we would like them to accept our offer.” The verbal exchange between Barça and Atlético continued yesterday in Monaco, during the Champions draw. “What surprises me is that Miguel Ángel Gil makes these statements, disrespecting our president. Our club is an example of professionalism. He has crossed a red line. We respect Atlético and all the players in the world. If a player wants to come to our club, we respect that,” replied Rafa Yuste, vice president of the blue and red entity. From the Argentine’s environment, they are not surprised: “Someone always has the blame. It’s obvious that they put it on us.”
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They were surprised, however, by Atlético’s response to Barcelona’s first offer. “In May they sent us a message saying they were asking for up to 150 million until June 20. Two days later Barça offered 100 million. They immediately went to all the media to say that Julián was not for sale. They threw away the message they had written,” insist those close to the Argentine forward.
It looks like, then, that Barcelona will not be able to count on Julián. “I don’t want to comment on these kinds of things. We have won our second consecutive match and that’s what matters to me,” said Flick, who, on the other hand, does add Dominik Livaković to his squad. The Croatian goalkeeper arrived in the Catalan capital on Tuesday and on Wednesday underwent the relevant medical examination, which he passed without the slightest setback. Yesterday he was officially announced. He signed for four seasons, until June 30, 2030, and Barça has agreed with Fenerbahçe, the original club, a transfer of two million plus another two in variables. It happens, in any case, that without Julián the summer signing is Rodri, who was ovated this Thursday at Camp Nou. “He is the perfect player for Barcelona,” Flick concluded.
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