Arsenal fans are urging the club to abandon their pursuit of Julian Alvarez after the forward reportedly turned down the prospect of moving to the Emirates. The Gunners were hoping to strike a £128million agreement with Atletico Madrid after the Spanish club made it clear that they were not prepared to negotiate with Barcelona, Alvarez's preferred destination.
Alvarez rejects Arteta's advances
Several public statements have been released by Atletico, stating that they will not sell Alvarez to Barcelona. Privately, they are willing to let him leave for another club, which was thought to have opened the door to Arsenal. Though they are unwilling to press forward for a player who does not want to join.
The Athletic reporter David Ornstein claimed on HBO Max that Mikel Arteta had called Alvarez to try and convince him to join Arsenal, but was flat-out rejected.
Fans call for the club to move on
Now, Arsenal supporters have asked their club to abandon hope of signing the Argentine and made it clear that if a player does not want Arsenal, they should not be considered.
Leading the reaction on X (formerly known as Twitter), @udeze_jr wrote: "I don't want him at Arsenal either. Nothing against the player, but I don't want players who don't genuinely want to be here. If his heart isn't in it, move on."
Their sentiments were echoed by @Artoracle, who said: "We have never had a player who joined Arsenal who did not 'want to come'...let's keep it that way!!!"
Frustration over wasted time
Fans felt that it was time wasted, after already failing in attempts to land Vinicius Jr and Morgan Rogers earlier in the window.
@DjDrapes explained: "Move on. We should have been exploring another target the last two weeks since he said no. Time wasted, and we let Liverpool have a free run on Barcola. Shocking to see where we are. Keep Gabi [Martinelli] and let's keep it moving."
Similarly, @DizPlinTrading wrote: "'He doesn't want to come to Arsenal' - end of the story, as we do not want him if he does not want to come to us. He has shot himself in the foot with his own fans, and now the real Gooners. If he said he was open to it, he is more than welcomed. Now, he can jog on!"
While @Olexinho urged Arsenal to hijack Manchester City's move for Everton winger Iliman Ndiaye. They said: "Go sign Ndiaye. Why can't we take a gamble on a player that looks promising. Why can't we overpay for a player when our rivals are doing it for years? If we don't take a chance, we won't know. We have the money for it. There's no excuse."
Arsenal have signed Greek winger Christos Tzolis this summer, with Gabriel Martinelli expected to follow Leandro Trossard out the door this month.
