‘Have the referees’ vice president on payroll…’: Atletico Madrid lash out at Barcelona invoking the Negreira case

FC Barcelona’s pursuit of Julian Alvarez took a bizarre turn earlier today when Atletico Madrid decided to take to social media and attempt to mock their rivals.

In a series of strange posts on their official accounts on social media, the Rojiblancos put out ironic statements as “offers” with images of some Barça players in the Atleti kit.

Not stopping there, they also aimed a dig at Barcelona sporting director Deco with a sarcastic post claiming they had ‘not offered’ him a post on their scouting department in Brazil.

All these posts were made in response to Fabrizio Romano breaking the news earlier today that Barcelona had made an opening offer of €100 million to sign Alvarez from Atletico Madrid.

Escalating matters

Now, Atletico took things to another level by issuing another statement. This time, the tone shifted from irony and mockery to a direct and serious response regarding what the club described as a campaign surrounding the player.

“No, Atletico Madrid would never do something like that. However, in recent months, we’ve been suffering a smear campaign against one of our players,” the statement started.

“Leaked information with ulterior motives, ‘fake news,’ constant disrespect, the Cule version of the propaganda machine inventing little stories, calls before direct matchups…”

‘Have the referees’ vice president on

The statement concluded with an even sharper message aimed at Barcelona by invoking the Negreira case:

“But of course, it wouldn’t occur to us either to have the referees’ vice president on our payroll or to resort to political favors to register players. RESPECT and VALUES.”

What’s the situation?

Barcelona want to sign Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez. (Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images)

Following the signing of Anthony Gordon, Barcelona identified Alvarez as their next major target to strengthen the squad.

Earlier this week, Barcelona sporting director Deco had met with Fernando Hidalgo, the player’s agent, following which the Catalan club presented an offer to Atletico Madrid today.

Los Rojiblancos already came out and denied receiving any offer, calling the news a ‘lie’, before going on this bizarre rant on social media.