Julian Alvarez will return to Atletico Madrid’s squad for Saturday’s La Liga clash against Athletic Club after his failed attempt to leave the club provided a “learning experience”, manager Diego Simeone has said.
The 26-year-old striker missed two days of training last week, citing illness, after reportedly being informed that Atletico would not sanction a move to Barcelona.
A transfer to Arsenal appeared to be Alvarez’s only remaining route out of the Spanish club, but the proposed move failed to materialise. The Argentina international has since returned to full team training after being left out of Atletico’s league match against Sevilla last weekend.
“Julian Alvarez will be in the squad tomorrow. He’s training well, and we expect the best from him, just as we do from all his team-mates,” Simeone said.
“For me, life is full of opportunities. And Julian now has an opportunity.
“A lot of the time, we spend our lives judging, and we need to worry about doing that less and learning more. I hope this has served as a learning experience for him.
“I hope he’s happy and, as [Paulo] Futre [Atletico Madrid’s director of football] told him yesterday in a lovely video… that he shows it by scoring goals.”
Atletico issued two public statements within 24 hours last week, reiterating that Alvarez would not be allowed to join Barcelona despite his reported desire to make the switch.
The Madrid club were, however, willing to consider selling the striker to Arsenal and held direct talks with the Premier League champions.
Simeone said last week that he would “do everything” possible to make the 2022 World Cup winner feel valued when he returned to the squad.
Alvarez has scored 49 goals in 107 appearances for Atletico since joining from Manchester City for £81m in 2024. However, he is yet to win a major trophy with the Madrid club.
Atletico travel to Bilbao to face Athletic Club on Saturday, with kick-off scheduled for 15:15 BST.
