Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has identified Michael Olise as his new obsession ever since watching the Bayern Munich superstar shred his beloved Blancos in the Champions League quarterfinals, and all Olise has done since then is enhance his reputation as one of the top five players on the planet right now.
Unsurprisingly, Real Madrid are finding it exceedingly difficult to sign Olise, who is one of the most valuable players at Bayern in the present and future and basically unsellable. Even though Real may be preparing to match the record 222 million euro transfer fee set by PSG, Barcelona, and Neymar in 2017, that may still not be enough.
In the pursuit of a 150 million euro Galactico, Florentino Perez planted a false flag, going after Atletico Madrid star striker Julian Alvarez even though he had no need for the Argentinian international with Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe already in the squad - and even though everyone knew Atleti would have no interest in selling such an important player to their biggest rivals.
Florentino Perez is a mastermind
But Perez's ploy has proven successful. Atletico Madrid got to release a statement mocking the offer, making it seem like they had rejected a legitimate 150 million euro transfer offer for Alvarez, which would, in turn, mean the next team interested in Alvarez would have to bid at least that much.
That team is, of course, Barcelona, as they had been interested in the Atletico Madrid star for so many months that Atleti were already making social media statements mocking the Blaugrana long before Julian Alvarez was Real Madrid's pretend Galactico.
And now that Alvarez has made it publicly clear after Argentina's latest World Cup win that he wants out of Atletico Madrid and a new challenge, Florentino Perez's little game with Atleti for Alvarez may have just screwed things up for Barcelona.
Because now, Atletico Madrid are telling Barcelona to pay the 500 million euro release clause for Alvarez or back off, and while that is nothing more than talk because Atleti will have no choice but to sell for less than that extreme amount since Alvarez publicly wants a transfer, that old 150 million euro bid ensures Barcelona's price just went up.
Florentino just made Barcelona pay potentially 50 million more euros than they needed to for Alvarez, and in their financial situation, even including recent recovery and La Liga trophies, that is not a price difference that is easy for them to afford.
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