Manchester City have today sold Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid for a club record £82 million.
The Argentina international has brought to an end a two-year spell at the Etihad Stadium, during which he made 103 appearances. He scored 36 goals and made 18 assists.
Alvarez made some important contributions during City’s Treble-winning campaign, and also featured a lot in the first half of last season, with City going on to win a fourth straight Premier League title.
Some City fans are sad to see him going. But most recognise that this was a great business deal by the club, and one that suited all parties.
£82 million smashes the previous record sale for City, which was Raheem Sterling to Chelsea for around £50 million in 2022.
Alvarez was a popular figure at City, and Txiki Begiristain has spoken about his ‘first-class’ attitude today.
He’ll be especially missed by his fellow teammates, with some sending him messages on social media.
Jack Grealish and others send well-wishes as Julian Alvarez completes £82m Man City exit
Alvarez’s output could be tricky to replace at City.
60 goals/assists in 103 appearances is pretty good going, so Pep Guardiola will be hoping to cover that, either through existing players stepping up, or by signing a replacement.
Currently, it feels as though Pep will be seeking a solution internally, with Oscar Bobb looking really good in pre-season and James McAtee also playing well.
We will see what he decides to do, but City fans will wholeheartedly trust the manager’s judgement.
Alvarez now has the chance to be the main man at Atletico, and hopefully it goes well for him over in Spain.
His now former City teammates will certainly hope to see him do well, as Alvarez was a well-liked member of the dressing room.
Alvarez penned a heartfelt exit letter today on social media, thanking the technical staff, directors and supporters before adding that ‘Manchester City will always have a special place in my heart’.
Some City players, and one former in Aymeric Laporte, responded to Alvarez in the comments:
Jack Grealish – The spider 🕷️ good luck brother wish u all the best Juliiiii 🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵 (light blue heart emojis)
Ruben Dias – Julian 🩵 (light blue heart emoji)
Nathan Ake – 🩵 (light blue heart emoji)
Aymeric Laporte – Grande!! 👏🏼🔥
Sergio Gomez – 🫶🏻🕷️ (light blue heart emojis)
Alvarez at Atletico will be fascinating
- Who is Julian Alvarez? The story of the striker who won it all at Man City before joining Atletico Madrid
It is sad to see Alvarez go, as he is a player who could genuinely reach a world-class level soon.
It will be interesting to see how he gets on at Atletico. One would imagine he’ll do quite well as a hardworking striker who scores goals.
Diego Simeone is renowned for having a team that presses and is physical, and Alvarez will no doubt run his socks off for him, just as he so often did for Pep.
Atleti have had some top strikers down the years and hopefully he will become their newest superstar and be worshipped by the fans like Sergio Aguero was all those years ago.
