Julián Álvarez stays at Atlético, back in the squad for trip to Athletic at San Mamés

The transfer window has closed, and the soap opera ended in a way few expected a month ago: Julián Álvarez is staying at Atlético Madrid. No Barcelona, no Arsenal. And this Saturday, he's back in the squad for the trip to Athletic Club at San Mamés.

Diego Simeone confirmed it himself at his pre-match press conference. The Argentine coach didn't mince words: "He's training very well," he said of the forward from Córdoba, adding that "tomorrow he'll be called up, he'll be part of the group traveling to play in Bilbao, and we expect the best from him, like all his teammates."

Julián's return is no small detail given how his season has started. The striker missed the Málaga match due to a lack of match fitness after joining preseason late, managed just 33 minutes against Villarreal (with part of the Metropolitano turning against him amid boos and insults), and sat out the game in Seville because of an illness that kept him out of training for three straight days. In other words, just one full match out of three, in the middle of a saga that strained his relationship with the fans.

All of that was left behind on Tuesday, when the transfer window closed with Julián still an Atlético player, at least until January. A move to Barcelona, which he himself had requested, proved impossible, and he also turned down the chance to join Arsenal, who had pursued him in more than one window.

Simeone's message: "Pure learning"

Beyond the football angle, Cholo took a moment to speak in almost personal terms about what his forward is going through. Without naming the conflict directly, he offered a reflection that sounded like an internal message, both for the locker room and for Julián himself.

"I want to be very clear: for me, life is full of opportunities. And this is possibly an opportunity for Julián to sort out a lot of things in his life. I think we spend all our time learning, and unfortunately we spend a lot of time judging. And we all judge. Why this, why that"Diego Simeone

The coach went further and called for a shift in focus: less judgment, more learning. "We need to judge less and worry more about learning. I think the step he's going through, for me, will surely give him pure learning in his life. And he has the chance, in all these situations he'll have to work through internally, to come out better for it," he explained.

He closed with a nod to the bond between the club and the player, referencing a gesture from a historic Atlético icon: "And we want to see him happy, because that's what we want: for him to be well, to be content, and obviously for him to score goals for us, which is exactly what Futre conveyed to him yesterday, with real joy, in a nice video."

For the trip to San Mamés, Simeone also gets Le Normand back, who served his suspension after being sent off against Villarreal. The only confirmed absence is Alexander Sorloth, who is still recovering from a muscle injury and will miss his fourth straight official match. Atlético arrives in Bilbao with seven of nine possible points from the first three matchdays of LaLiga, and with the chance that Julián can begin to slowly close the book on a chapter that kept him away from the pitch, and from the fans' goodwill.