Manchester City have made significant profits on a range of players they’ve sold in recent years.
Some examples include Ferran Torres, Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus, who City signed for certain fees but managed to sell for more than they initially paid for.
Despite cashing in on these players, Pep Guardiola’s side have still managed to be successful on the pitch by winning multiple domestic and European trophies over the past few seasons.
Now that the Manchester club could be set to make a big profit on another player in their squad, one pundit has shared his thoughts on the situation.
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Pundit claims Atletico Madrid have massively overpaid to sign Julian Alvarez from Man City
Following recent reports that Atletico Madrid have agreed a deal worth £81m to sign Julian Alvarez from City, Stewart Robson had this to say on the matter in a recent video shared on the ESPN FC YouTube channel.
He said: “I think he’s a very good player. No, I don’t think he is [worth £81m].
“Whenever I’ve watched him play, you’re impressed with his work rate and his versatility and what he offers the team, but I wouldn’t say he’s got one outstanding attribute.
“You can’t say oh he can go past people with ease, he’s a great crosser of the ball, he’s a brilliant finisher.
“He’s good at most things, I wouldn’t say he’s at the moment a top-class player despite him winning the World Cup, despite him winning the Champions League, that’s why Man City are willing to let him go because he’s not at the very top of English football as a striker or world football as a striker.
“I would move because winning isn’t everything as a player it might be the pinnacle. Yeah, I can say I’m a Champions League winner, I’m a World Cup winner.
“He played in the World Cup very well but he didn’t play that many games in the Champions League, he wasn’t a major starter in the big games and that’s what he’s moaned about I didn’t play enough in the big games.
“So when he’s picking up a trophy, does he really feel as though he’s been part of it? At times as a player you want to feel part of it, you want to play nearly every week, you want to make sure you have an impact on this club.
“And at the moment Alvarez didn’t have the impact that he would have wanted on Manchester City’s title chase and European successes.”
Alvarez is more likely to start every game at Atletico
Even though the 24-year-old appeared in 54 games across all competitions last season, he only started 39 of them and was an unused substitute on five occasions.
As Robson mentioned, Alvarez told the media last month that he didn’t like not starting in some of City’s biggest games of the season, which has presumably led to him being linked with a move to Atletico.
In our view, while the striker is more likely to be a consistent starter at Atletico, we feel that getting such a significant transfer fee for him further highlights the impressive transfer business City are capable of completing behind the scenes.
