Bernardo Silva has heaped praise on Manchester City teammate Julian Alvarez.
The Portuguese international emphasised that City’s strength over the years has been their adaptability to injuries and players being unavailable over the years.
When quizzed about Erling Haaland’s recent injury in a press conference (via Sky Sports News, 18/12/2023), Bernardo Silva shone a light on how the Sky Blues need not worry as they have Julian Alvarez in their ranks.
Bernardo Silva hails Julian Alvarez as a “top, top striker”
After Manchester City beat RB Leipzig 3-2 in the Champions League, Phil Foden described the Argentine’s season as “brilliant.”
Stefan Ortega also recently referred to the 23-year-old as “incredible”, adding that he could get even better than he already is.
It seems like Bernardo Silva also has a lot of faith in Julian Alvarez leading the line for Manchester City.
“Well, Erling [Haaland] is a very important player for us, of course, we’re not going to deny that. Erling or Kevin [De Bruyne] or whoever’s missing but the biggest strength of this team, of Manchester City since I arrived, six and a half years ago was that no matter who was not playing, we still managed to be the same team, we still managed to win games, we still managed to fight for all the titles and yeah, we’re going to keep doing that”, he said (via Sky Sports News).
Bernardo Silva went on to touch on Julian Alvarez, saying, “If Erling Haaland is not present, we’re not going to say that it is not important and we’re not going to miss him because of course, we’re going to miss him. But we have Julian Alvarez to play striker and he’s a top, top striker. So, we’re not going to say that the team will look bad.”
“Our job is to find solutions and do our best with the players we have in the moment but of course, we miss all of our injured players. In this case, you are talking about Erling and of course, we miss him.”
An important learning experience for Julian Alvarez
As long as Julian Alvarez continues to operate as the lone striker for Manchester City in Erling Haaland’s absence, he will adapt to the dynamics of playing alongside Bernardo Silva and his other teammates.
For most of his time at the Etihad Stadium, the World Cup winner has either played behind Haaland or simply not led the line enough.
With that in mind, it is understandable why Alvarez is still a work-in-progress when he operates as a lone No.9, as was the case in his last two Premier League starts against Luton Town and Crystal Palace.
If Julian Alvarez starts alone up top against Urawa Red Diamonds, he will get more of a feel of being the side’s main striker, which would be key for his development in the position.
