Arsenal's Julián Alvarez pursuit ignores Mikel Arteta's long-standing transfer stance

Julián Alvarez is still the subject of interest from Arsenal as the transfer window nears its closure, but the club's pursuit seemingly ignores a transfer stance Mikel Arteta put in place in the early stages of his time as manager.

The Argentina international is a long-term target for the Gunners, but so far no move has materialised with him giving priority to suitors Barcelona and Atlético Madrid remaining adamant that he is not for sale this summer.

However, as the window approaches its final week, there is potential for some movement in the North Londoners' pursuit, but any deal for Alvarez would strongly ignore Arteta's stance on players who aren't sold on a move to the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal's Julián Alvarez pursuit ignores Mikel Arteta's transfer stance

In May 2020 during an interview with Ian Wright, Arteta discussed delving into the transfer market and said: "Everybody wants to come here and we have a really clear idea of what we are. It doesn't need much convincing and if they do, for me it's not a good starting point. If I have to convince a player to stay or to join us. To Arsenal? It holds me back a little bit.

"It has to be 'what do we have to do? I want to play for that club and represent exactly the values the style of play that I want'. That's the kind of emotion I want to hear at the start."

That stance has been evident in the signings of Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze and Bruno Guimarães, just to name a few, who all turned down approaches from other clubs to join the Gunners in recent years.

The same approach was shown for the likes of Mykhailo Mudryk and Dusan Vlahovic, who the North Londoners were targeting, but didn't sign as they showed preference to other sides. The Ukrainian ultimately chose to join capital rivals Chelsea while the Serbian and his camp were reportedly using Arsenal's interest as leverage for a desired move to Juventus.

It now seems the same situation is happening with Alvarez. The Gunners want to sign him, but he doesn't want to join them. He has spent practically the entire summer reportedly yearning for a move to Barcelona, but yet Arteta's side have kept him in mind as a long-term target.

Alvarez would add plenty of quality to Arsenal's attack and would arguably be the component they have been missing for that deadly striker they need in their frontline, but it gets to a point where the club need to move on from him, especially considering how Arteta feels about targets who don't show a clear desire to make the move to North London.

Atlético are reluctant to sell to La Liga rivals Barcelona, leaving the Gunners as the only apparent possible destination, but even at that point, they still don't want to sell and Alvarez doesn't want to head to the English capital.

The Athletic revealed Arsenal are not certain of Alvarez's desire, but will move forward in negotiations if he opens the door, but it feels like that could be a huge waste of time. There is a need to bolster their strength on the left wing with Al Hilal in talks to sign Gabriel Martinelli, but yet with eight days to go in the window, the focus appears to be on convincing Alvarez.

Sometimes a player will take convincing, but if Atlético's post-match scenes are anything to go by, Alvarez will likely just want a way out of the Metropolitano Stadium before the window closes and the Gunners should only be signing him if he wants the move, not just because he wants to leave his current club.

He would be an incredible signing to close out this summer's transfer business, but it seems like it's time for Arsenal to return to Arteta's long-standing transfer stance, turn their back on Alvarez and focus on signing a left winger in the next week.

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