Arsenal hold talks over blockbuster Julian Alvarez move as Atletico Madrid name their price

Arsenal have held exploratory talks over Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez, talkSPORT understands.

Atleti could be prepared to sell former Manchester City star Alvarez, who won the treble with Pep Guardiola‘s side, for €100million (£86.8m).

Getty

Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta has close links with World Cup winner Alvarez having negotiated his move from City to Atletico.

Barcelona are also very interested in signing Argentine international Alvarez and sources suggest they are seen as favourites.

The 25-year-old has four-and-a-half years left on his deal in the Spanish capital following his 2024 arrival.

Alvarez has since scored 40 goals in 85 appearances for Diego Simeone’s side.

Meanwhile, he found the net 20 times in 67 Premier League outings during his time at City.

As for Arsenal’s current centre-forward options, Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus have scored a combined six league goals this term, while Kai Havertz has barely featured due to injury.

The Gunners are favourites to win the Premier League title this season, seven points clear with 16 matches to go, and remain very much in contention on all four trophy fronts.

Mikel Arteta’s side are already through to the last 16 of the Champions League and are guaranteed a top two finish in the league phase.

They also hold a 3-2 lead over Chelsea heading into the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final as well as safely progressing to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Arsenal have not won a major trophy since lifting the FA Cup in 2020, whilst it has been 22 years since their last league title.

Getty

Arsenal’s transfer plans

Arteta hinted the Gunners could be active in the January transfer window last month.

The Spaniard admitted the club were ‘actively looking’ at potential arrivals in the winter.

Speaking in December, he told reporters: “The window is there and I mean we are Arsenal and we have to be looking at it, ‘Okay, what do we need?’

“And we have to be actively looking and then, whether we can do it or not, that’s a different story.

“But our job is to always be very prepared because something can happen, so hopefully it’ll be very positive.

“When you look across the other clubs, they have 24 or 25 squad players.

Getty

“Although we have had more injuries than expected, some of them not avoidable, we want to be better and we know how important the part of having the right availability with players is going to be this season.”

Arteta has been forced to contend with multiple injury headaches throughout the first half of the season.

Defenders Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie have both faced spells on the sidelines in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, teenager Max Dowman has been ruled out until February with an ankle issue.