Real Madrid have revealed that their €150 million (£129.4m) bid for Julian Alvarez has been rejected by Atletico Madrid.
Speaking before he was re-elected as Madrid’s president, Florentino Perez vowed to submit a club-record offer for an unnamed ‘great player’ this week.
‘On Tuesday or so, I’m going to make an offer to a major Champions League club for a great player. It would be the largest transfer fee Real Madrid has ever paid in its history,’ Perez told Horizonte last Thursday.
When asked to name his transfer target, Perez replied: ‘[Michael] Olise is a great player but it’s not Olise, it’s not [Jeremy] Doku either.
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‘We’re going to make a significant offer, at least around €150m (£129.4m).
‘He needs to be a player from midfield who can go forward. And it’s not [Erling] Haaland.
‘The player is not from the Premier League, and the first thing we’ll do is talk to the club.
‘It’s a signing meant to generate excitement because that’s what it’s all about, generating excitement.’
Madrid have announced that their target is Alvarez, who is also wanted by Arsenal and Barcelona.
The Spanish champions have already had a €100m (£86.4m) offer for Alvarez rejected.
Arsenal, meanwhile, have held initial talks to sign Alvarez but the Argentina international is holding out for a move to Barcelona and is not considering a return to the Premier League after leaving Manchester City two years ago.
In a statement released on Tuesday evening, Madrid said: ‘Real Madrid CF announces that, following today’s Board of Directors meeting, it has made an offer of 150 million euros to Club Atlético de Madrid for the federative rights of the player Julián Álvarez.
‘After studying and evaluating it, Atlético de Madrid has thanked the club for the offer, made within the framework of the good relations existing between both clubs, and has rejected it, referring to the player’s release clause.’
In their response to Madrid’s statement, Atletico replied on X with five laughing face emojis.
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