Atletico Madrid agree £81.5m deal for Man City’s Julián Álvarez (2024)

Atletico Madrid have agreed to sign Julián Álvarez for £81.5million from Manchester City.

The forward’s exit would be a record sale for City, surpassing the £50million that they received for Raheem Sterling from Chelsea in July 2022. The Spanish club will pay an initial £64.4million with a further £17.1million in potential add-ons for the 24-year-old, who will join on a five-year contract.

Álvarez had said that he would make a decision on his future after Argentina ended their campaign at the Paris Olympics. The team were knocked out by the hosts, France, on Friday, and Álvarez is now on holiday.

Atletico are close to agreeing a payment structure and the sale would leave Pep Guardiola with a decision to make on whether to replace Álvarez, who featured in more matches than any other player last season. He played 54 times for City in all competitions, scoring 19 goals and providing 13 assists.

City had wanted more than £80million for the forward but Atletico were unlikely to be able to afford as much as that unless the payment structure and clauses were heavily weighted in their favour. A loan deal with an obligation to buy was also discussed.

Three Premier League teams had also asked to be kept informed of Álvarez’s situation but he is keen on a switch to La Liga, where he would get to work with his fellow Argentinian Diego Simeone. Radamel Falcao, Diego Costa and Luis Suárez have all thrived under Simeone at Atletico in the past.

City signed Álvarez from River Plate for £14million in 2022 and he has flourished under Pep Guardiola, particularly in the first half of last season. However, he was frustrated with how he was used less regularly in the final few months of the campaign and he wants guaranteed minutes at this stage of his career, especially in the biggest matches.

While at the Olympics in Paris, Álvarez said: “Last season I was one of the players with the most minutes at City. But, in the end, you don’t like being left out of important matches. You want to contribute. I’ll take my time to think about what I want for myself. We will see after the Games.”

Atletico are in the market for forwards after selling Álvaro Morata to AC Milan for €15million (£12.9million) this summer. The club have already bought Alexander Sorloth from Villarreal, the 28-year-old who scored 23 goals in La Liga last term.

Atletico are also in negotiations with Chelsea over a deal to sell their young striker, Samu Omorodion, who is valued at around €40million. The 20-year-old joined Atletico for €6million from Granada only a year ago and spent most of last season on loan at Alavés, where he scored eight goals in 34 games.

Chelsea have been keen on Omorodion for a while and revived negotiations with Atletico during talks over the sale of Conor Gallagher. West Ham had also been tracking Omorodion this summer.

Gallagher agrees to join Atlético after Chelsea’s threat to exclude him

Conor Gallagher has verbally agreed to join Atletico Madrid after their £34million bid was accepted by Chelsea.

The England midfielder was told that he could be excluded from the Chelsea first-team squad if he rejected the move, after the London club accepted the offer last week. If the paperwork is completed, the intention is for Gallagher to travel to Spain on Monday.

Atletico shortlisted Gallagher, 24, and Mikel Merino as their two midfield targets, with both players having entered the final year of their contracts. Arsenal are set to step up efforts to sign Merino, 28, the Spain international who has been valued by Real Sociedad at about £30million.

Gallagher was scheduled to return to training on Monday, along with other players who have been on holiday since reaching the latter stages of Euro 2024. Chelsea play Real Madrid on Wednesday in the last friendly on their pre-season tour to the United States, during which they have lost two, won one and drawn one of their four matches.

Chelsea have been keen to sell Gallagher since last summer. Because he is an academy graduate, any fee received for him would count as pure profit for the club in terms of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

Gallagher made 37 Premier League appearances last season, scoring five goals and providing seven assists. He was a key player under the previous head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, but is surplus to requirements under Enzo Maresca.

Chelsea also want to sell Armando Broja, the 22-year-old forward, and Trevoh Chalobah, the 25-year-old defender.

The club have been drawn against either Braga or Servette in the play-off round for the group phase of the Europa Conference League. The first leg will take place on Thursday, August 22 at Stamford Bridge, with Enzo Maresca’s side visiting Portugal or Switzerland a week later.

Füllkrug completes West Ham move

West Ham United have completed the signing of Niclas Füllkrug for up to £27million after the forward agreed a four-year deal.

The Germany international, 31, scored 12 goals and contributed eight assists for Borussia Dortmund in 29 Bundesliga games last season and also found the net twice for his country at Euro 2024.

He becomes the third forward in his thirties at West Ham, joining Danny Ings, 32, and Michail Antonio, 34. West Ham had wanted Jhon Durán but failed to persuade Aston Villa to reduce their £40million valuation of the 20-year-old Colombia forward.

Füllkrug scored in wins over Newcastle United, Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last season. Tim Steidten, the West Ham technical director, worked with the striker at Werder Bremen.

West Ham also confirmed the signing of Guido Rodríguez on a free transfer from Real Betis on Tuesday. The 30-year-old midfielder has 30 Argentina caps and was part of the squad who won the World Cup in 2022 and the Copa América twice, in 2021 and last month.

Napoli want Gilmour

Napoli are expected to make a fresh bid for Billy Gilmour this week after a £8.6million offer was rejected by Brighton & Hove Albion. The Scotland midfielder, 23, moved to the south coast from Chelsea for £9million in 2022.

Brighton are competing with Southampton and Chelsea for Matt O’Riley, the midfielder valued at £30million by Celtic. O’Riley, 23, was an England youth international and was eligible to represent Norway and Denmark, for whom he has been capped twice. O’Riley joined Celtic from MK Dons for £1.5million in 2022.