Laporta publicly broke his silence onBarcelona's pursuit of Alvarez this week, claiming the Argentine is eager to make the switch to the Spotify Camp Nou. He said: "Let me state upfront that we continue to have great respect for Atletico. The tweets were before Julian stated that he wants to play for a big team; he didn't mention Barca. Some interpreted it as Barca, and others didn't. We didn't force this; it was the player himself. This player was on Barça's radar before signing for City, and even before that. At that time, we couldn't afford the transfer. We made an offer, club to club.
"Barca can handle any operation, but with sporting and economic logic. We'll dictate the market. I've spoken with Atlético and made it clear what we want. Deco made an offer. We know the player wants to come to Barça, and has for a long time. We made this proposal with all due respect to the Madrid club. They told me they weren't planning to sell because we didn't have any alternatives. We'll maintain this offer for as long as we deem necessary. We won't be at their mercy. If they want to make the move, we'd be delighted. The offer isn't open-ended."