Julian Alvarez has accepted he will not get his dream move to Barcelona before the transfer window closes with his focus now back on Atletico Madrid.
The Argentina international revealed during the World Cup he was desperate to join Barcelona this summer with the Catalan giants seeing a €100million offer turned away.
Atletico have taken aim at their La Liga rivals for their public pursuit of the player, insisting under no uncertain terms they would not be doing business with them this summer.
Arsenal are also huge admirers of Alvarez and have made numerous attempts to bring him to north London with Mikel Arteta personally pleading with him to make the switch. Arsenal were ready to include Viktor Gyokeres in any deal with Atletico prepared to do business with the Gunners.
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Alvarez has had no desire to return to the Premier League, however, also rejecting the chance to re-join former side Manchester City.
With just hours of the summer transfer window remaining, all signs would now suggest the saga has drawn to a close for now.
Marca report the Argentine has come to terms with a move to Barcelona being ‘impossible’ at this stage and is now ‘beginning the process of turning his situation around’ at Atletico.
Alvarez was brutally booed by Atletico fans after making his first appearance of the season against Villarreal earlier this month, left out of the squad that beat Sevilla at the weekend.
The striker returned to training on Sunday after missing three sessions last week with Atletico CEO Angel Gil Marín insisting their player was ‘confused’ and ‘in a very difficult situation’ both personally and professionally’ – blaming Barcelona for the situation.
Atletico are now moving forward with the report also suggesting they plan to include him in the squad travelling to Bilbao to take on Athletic on Saturday.
Barcelona also appeared to have moved on – for this transfer window at least – having completed the signing of Gabriel Jesus from Arsenal.
The Brazil international heads to the Camp Nou for a reported fee of £8.5million, signing a two-year deal.
Arsenal meanwhile are also still active on deadline day, exploring a move for Lyon winger Malick Fofana who now looks set to join Sunderland.