The claim has gone viral for all the wrong reasons. Freixa, who is no longer part of the Barcelona hierarchy but remains an active voice on social media, posted the argument on X on Monday as Álvarez continued to avoid any direct encounter with Diego Simeone, completing his pre-season medical away from the club's Majadahonda training complex.
"The release clause in Julián's contract, because of the disproportion between its value and his salary and his market value, is legally void because it constitutes a circumvention of the law," Freixa wrote, adding that "any judge in the social courts would declare this" and predicting Álvarez "would win this fight by a landslide" if he chose to pursue it legally. He offered no legal basis or precedent to support the claim.
The post quickly attracted mockery and pushback. Numerous users pointed out that the same reasoning could apply just as easily to several Barcelona players locked into release clauses that are similarly steep relative to their salaries — a comparison Freixa brushed aside rather than engage with directly.
It is not the first time Freixa has inserted himself into the debate over Barcelona's forward line. He has previously suggested that Barcelona "doesn't need Julián or Ferran" to be the biggest club in the world, only to later strike a warmer tone on the pursuit of a new striker, saying he liked both options under consideration and admitting he preferred the second.
He has also predicted publicly that Álvarez will ultimately stay at Atletico Madrid while Ferran Torres remains at Barcelona, leaving the rest of the transfer market's business to sporting director Deco and head coach Hansi Flick.
Freixa's intervention comes as the Álvarez saga continues to dominate the Spanish transfer conversation, with the forward's preference for a move to Barcelona showing no sign of fading despite Atlético's refusal to budge from their release-clause valuation.
The former director's own comments have swung between dismissive and welcoming on the subject of a new Barcelona striker in recent weeks, though he has stopped short of predicting how the Álvarez situation will ultimately be resolved.