The biggest saga of the window has five days left and no obvious ending. Julian Alvarez wants to join Barcelona. Atletico Madrid have told him, again, that they will not sell him to a La Liga rival. Neither side has moved.
Arsenal are the exit Atletico will allow. They have pushed hardest of the clubs chasing him, Atletico have agreed to negotiate, and reporting in Spain is blunt about it: the champions of England are the only realistic way out. Alvarez has so far rejected the idea, which is the part that keeps this stuck.
Sunday made it worse. The Metropolitano turned on him during the match and sources in Spain describe him as devastated by it. A striker who has asked to leave, been refused, and then been booed by his own crowd is not having a quiet week.
Atletico's contingency has also just disappeared. Nicolas Jackson was their fallback if Alvarez went, and Jackson signed for Aston Villa this week, which leaves them shopping in the last days of a window if they change their minds.
The deadline is 11pm on Tuesday 1 September in England and midnight in Spain. Either Alvarez says yes to Arsenal, Barcelona find a structure Atletico cannot refuse, or he stays somewhere he has already asked to leave.