Atletico Madrid publicly slam Real Madrid over strange Julian Alvarez bid statement

Chaos is playing out publicly between two of Madrid's biggest clubs, and superstar forward Julian Alvarez is at the centre of the fallout.

The Argentine is busy preparing to represent his nation at the World Cup, hoping to mount a successful defence of the world's biggest prize, but in the meantime, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have been at war over the striker.

What has happened with Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Julian Alvarez?

Real Madrid released a bizarre statement on Tuesday, claiming they had submitted a €150million bid for Atletico Madrid star Julian Alvarez. They say Atleti studied the offer, appreciated it and rejected it, all the while keeping a good relationship between the clubs. They say Atleti informed that they would not consider any offers below Alavarez's release clause, which is €500million.

Atletico Madrid then reposted the statement on social media with several laughing emojis. They followed that up with a statement that read: "1. They cut out the part of the Pope's video where he said he was an Atleti fan too. 2. You must have confused education with gratitude, but to leave no doubt: we don't thank you for anything. 3. We neither study nor considered any offer for Julián.
4. How could we not get along, when you make us laugh even more than @FCBarcelona_es does."

They then added: "P.S. Taking advantage of the good relationship with your new president, let's see if you stop "stealing" players from our Academy. Thanks a lot, @realmadrid !."

Feisty stuff indeed.

What is beneath the surface

To dig a little deeper, there is a reason why Real Madrid released this strange statement. Of course, it is extremely rare that a club would confirm that they have had a bid rejected by another club. It doesn't look good and it is not part of football best practice.

But what we know is that Florentino Perez made promises that he was going after a €150million galactico during his presidential run. After being elected, he then had to show that he at least tried to deliver on that promise.

With that in mind, this was quote clearly Perez showing fans that he was trying to deliver on his promise, even if he likely knew there was little chance of getting the Alvarez deal done. Atleti are not going to want to sell their best players, and if they do have to sell him, it's not going to be to city rivals Real Madrid.

Unfortunately for Perez, the Atleti response has made him look much worse than if he had simply never said another word about the promise to deliver a galactico. This one will go down as a PR disaster.

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