City rivals: Atlético rejects Real offer

“After examination and evaluation, Club Atlético de Madrid has gratefully rejected the offer presented, which was made in the context of the good relations between the two clubs (…),” Real Madrid initially announced.

In its response, Atlético refers to the €500 million exit clause in Álvarez’s contract. And writes on There was also a post with laughing emojis.

Does Pérez want to drive up the price and annoy Barça?

According to the media, Barça is said to have previously offered 100 million for Álvarez. Observers suspect that Real President Florentino Pérez is not really interested in Álvarez, but rather wants to use his public offer to drive up the professional’s price in order to annoy the Catalans.

It is known that the Spanish champions, coached by former national coach Hansi Flick, want to sign a striker in the summer to replace Robert Lewandowski. The Pole has already announced that he is leaving Barcelona.

Pérez, who was re-elected as Real Madrid boss on Sunday, had promised during the election campaign: “We will make the biggest offer ever made for a player.” Spanish media then speculated that the amount was around 150 million euros.

What about Olise?

However, in a recent interview after his confirmation in office, Pérez rejected media reports that he wanted to bring Bayern’s star striker Michael Olise to Madrid for this sum. “It’s not (Erling) Haaland, it’s not Olise, it’s not (Jérémy) Doku,” assured the 79-year-old.

According to experts, Real wants and needs to strengthen their midfield after their second titleless season in a row, as they have stars like Vinícius Júnior and Kylian Mbappé in attack. Two Portuguese from Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain are being discussed: Vitinha and Joao Neves.

Meanwhile, Atlético is making fun of its competitors: Alluding to a statement made by Pope Leo

And there was another tip: Real should finally stop “stealing” players from our academy”.