Los Rojiblancos have already made it crystal clear that they're unwilling to sell their prized asset to LaLiga rivals Barcelona, and they've also been left smarting by Real Madrid's apparent offer for the diminutive Argentine.
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Julian Alvarez wants Barcelona switch
The issue for Diego Simeone and the board of the club is that Alvarez has also made it apparent that he sees his future elsewhere, and Barcelona is his preferred destination.
Though the way the player has gone about things isn't particularly palatable, that's a side issue at this point.
Atleti genuinely need to decide whether they should hold on to a player who clearly doesn't want to be there, or bow to his will and allow him to go.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has squeezed them a little tighter by noting that the offer won't be on the table forever, so at this point, a real game of brinksmanship exists.
Arsenal move into the picture
If Atleti do accept that they need to move Alvarez on, because the situation that would otherwise fester is likely untenable, they'd surely prefer to sell him to a club outside the Spanish top flight.
To that end, Arsenal may well be their saviours.
According to reports, the Gunners, who are known to have had a relatively long-term interest in the Argentinian, are willing to discuss the possibility of using Viktor Gyokeres as a makeweight in any deal.
The Swedish international was the top scorer for the North Londoners in their 2025/26 campaign, and his 21 goals in all competitions were at least 10 more than any of his colleagues.
However, his all-round game has often left much to be desired.
Scandalously poor output from Gyokeres
For example, of those players who could be considered regulars under Mikel Arteta, Gyokeres attempted by far the fewest passes (486).
To give some context to that output, even those players who were either out injured or not selected as often managed more passes, with Mikel Merino's 731 and Gabriel Martinelli's 613 presenting a significant improvement over their teammate.
With a 63.79% pass completion rate to boot, the worst in the entire Arsenal first-team squad, there really is no saving grace for Gyokeres in this regard.
Although only four Arsenal players contested more one-on-ones than the striker's 351, Gyokeres' 33.62% success was, again, the worst return of any player.
Aerial duels, which one might consider his bread and butter, further evidenced an embarrassing lack of purpose.
Of the 138 attempted (only Martin Zubimendi, Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba attempted more), only 44 were won.
Only eight tackles attempted last season
Looking at his tackle success rate of 62.5%, which is the third best in the squad, you'd be led to believe that the Swede at least works hard off the ball.
That's until you realise that he only attempted eight tackles in the whole of the 2025/26 campaign, winning just five of them.
Only Ethan Nwaneri had the same incredibly poor output for this metric, but he at least had the excuse that he'd played just 515 minutes compared to Gyokeres' 3,479.
The 94 aerial duels the striker lost couldn't be equalled either, so suggestions that he has been a goalscorer and little else wouldn't be an unfair reflection on his contributions last season.
Talks still at the earliest stages
Given that Simeone has worked with Alexander Sorloth at Atleti, it isn't clear if the Rojiblancos would consider replacing the Norwegian with the Swede or play him alongside him in place of Alvarez.
Of course, there's plenty of discussion that needs to take place in the interim before either club can fully progress negotiations, which are understood to be at the earliest stages at this point.
There's no suggestion that Gyokeres would be interested in a move to the Spanish capital either, though, as most players understand, when a club starts listening to offers for you or entering into discussions about you, the writing is on the wall.
Alvarez's work rate is far in excess of Gyokeres', and whilst his potential hire would mean Arsenal going in a different direction in terms of how they build attacks, the Argentine's movement, desire and end product may be much more in keeping with what the North Londoners expect from their main striker.
Jason Pettigrove has been the features writer for Flashscore since 2025, utilising Opta data to form the basis of his articles. He has previously worked for high profile football clubs, news and media outlets, both in print and digital, and can usually be found watching FC Barcelona when time permits. You can read more of his pieces here.
