Matteo Moretto gives Football España exclusive information on the latest deals dominating the papers in Spain, as revealed in Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing.
Barcelona will try to renew Andreas Christensen contract
It’s true that he is out of contract in 2026, he arrived on a free and basically, I think that he is not one of the ‘untransferible’ players, where Barcelona will draw a red line at his departure. He is not amongst the five or six players they are looking to build the team around.
So if an offer comes in, then they will listen to it. All the same, they have to renew him in order to avoid losing him for free in two years, and if he does not sign a new deal in the coming months, then they will seek out offers for the Danish international.
It’s not any knock on his ability to say that he does not find himself in the same situation as Gavi, Lamine Yamal or Pedri in terms of Barcelona’s plans, who have contracts expiring at the same time, and who Barcelona believe are at the very top level. I didn’t hear of any interest in the summer – Barcelona will listen to offers for him though.
Barcelona to delay decision on long-term future of goalkeeping position
I think that Barcelona will simply go day-to-day with Marc-Andre ter Steven and see how his recovery goes. The decision has been pushed down the line, and at the end of the season, we will have to see how Inaki Pena has played, and how much, how Wojciech Szczesny has been doing, and clearly how ter Stegen’s recovery is going.
At that point they will be able to make a much more informed decision, but so far they have delayed the matter.
Atletico Madrid see Julian Alvarez as differential signing, but never discussed roles with him
It is well documented that Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone made a number of calls to Julian Alvarez about potentially joining the club. On Sunday during the Madrid derby we saw him on the left rather than through the middle, but Simeone did not speak to him about his role on the pitch.
What he did discuss with Alvarez was his role at the club in general, in the dressing room, and for the future of the club. He is a strategic signing, who will give you differential quality, and bringing him in was a statement on an international level. Not since Joao Felix have Atletico Madrid spent so much money on a player.
With Julian, he was convinced by the project, and the persistence with which Atletico tried to convince him, giving him a lot of love. I think Julian maybe needed a little more love, and needed to play regularly.
Right now Diego Simeone might be experimenting a bit with his position, but he has the full confidence of the manager and the club though. They didn’t speak about his position beforehand. Perhaps he might have to suffer in some games at the moment, but it’s not a big issue.
Matteo Moretto will be back with more transfer news in the coming days, providing exclusive information on the biggest stories in Spain and Italy.