Barcelona's offer and Atlético's response: Deco reveals for the first time the behind-the-scenes details of the Álvarez deal

The Barça sporting director opens the black box

Deco has broken his silence on the Julian Alvarez saga, the standout transfer story of last summer's window. Barcelona's sporting director watched his club chase the Argentine striker only to run into fierce resistance from Atletico Madrid, whose officials seemed willing to let him join anyone but Barca.

Speaking on the programme "El Mon a Rac1", presented by Jordi Baste, Deco was always going to be drawn onto the subject of Alvarez after months of noise around Barcelona's interest and Atletico's furious reaction.

He kept things simple at first, spelling out the Catalan club's negotiating stance. As reported by the newspaper "Sport", he said: "We have the information available, and we have handled matters properly. We made an offer and did not receive any reply."

Deco added: "Most of what was raised about the matter was through the media. We spoke with them with full respect, and they told us from the beginning that they did not want to sell him. You cannot keep bringing up the same subject over and over again. The matter is more about media pressure than actual reality, and there is no longer anything that warrants discussion."

Asked directly whether Barcelona had pushed Alvarez to publicly declare his wish to leave Atletico, Deco was blunt. He answered with a single word: "no".

He also steered clear of fresh controversy when the conversation turned to Miguel Angel Gil Marin. Atletico's chief executive had launched serious accusations at Barcelona's leadership after the draw for the 2026-2027 Champions League, criticism that bordered on insult.

"I cannot say much beyond what reality dictates," Deco continued. "We made an official and proper offer. I can only speak about my personal situation, and I cannot go into the details of any agreements that may have been reached (between Atletico and Julian Alvarez)."

Drawing on his own playing days, he explained: "The president of Porto, Pinto da Costa, did not allow me to leave for Barcelona. He asked me to stay for a year, on the understanding that the following year I would be able to move to any destination I wanted. I did indeed stay, and my only option was to perform well and wait for the following year."

"After a year had passed, I received an offer from Chelsea, which included a higher financial return, but I wanted to join Barcelona, and at that point Pinto da Costa told me I was free to choose my destination, so I moved to Barcelona," he noted.

Deco also denied that Barcelona's offer involved payment in six instalments. "No, when we made the offer, worth 100 million euros, it stipulated payment over three seasons, exactly as other clubs do. In fact, there are clubs that pay us their dues over five seasons!" he joked.

To put the matter to bed, he insisted he had no issue with his Atletico counterpart, Mateu Alemany. "I have no problem with Mateu, and I do not know if he has a problem with me, because I have not done him any wrong. We worked together at Barcelona. Did we speak about Julian this summer? He did not reply to the offers we made to him regarding Julian."