Many Manchester City fans couldn’t quite believe that Julian Alvarez was sold for north of £80 million in the summer transfer window.
The Argentina international made the most appearances out of any Manchester City player last season, but it became clear that he was not happy with his role in the squad.
Alvarez had played quite regularly in the first half of the campaign, but then struggled for starts once the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland returned from injury.
After lots of speculation, Alvarez was finally sold to Atletico Madrid for a club-record fee.
Alvarez’s sale was perhaps some of Txiki Begiristain’s finest work as director of football, since he had been picked up for just £14 million two years prior.
Given the money involved, expectations of Alvarez to perform are high, and today one Spanish football expert shared how the star has been getting on so far at Atletico Madrid.
Julian Alvarez has had a decent start at Atletico Madrid
So far, Alvarez has not exactly shown what City are missing.
In fairness, he would have had to perform out of his skin for that to be the case, given City received a huge fee for him, perhaps bigger than most people anticipated.
But it’s not been too bad of a start for Alvarez up to now since leaving the Etihad Stadium.
He has made 12 appearances so far for Atleti and scored three goals – giving a one-in-four ratio. Alvarez left City with a record of near enough a goal every three games.
Today, Alvaro Romeo – talkSPORT’s Spanish football expert – gave the lowdown on Alvarez’s start at Atleti.
He said (1.38pm, 23/10): “I think the best is still to come from Alvarez. Partially because he’s adapting, but also because he travels to Argentina quite a lot to play with the national side. He has missed a lot of playing minutes.
“The other day Leganes in the second-half, one of the goals was thanks to his relentless pressure.
“I think Alvarez has to play in central positions. I think tonight he will start together with Sorloth and Griezmann, so maybe Alvarez will play on the left, and that obviously stops him from shining a little bit. For me, he’s a centre-forward or a ‘9.5’.”
- Who is Julian Alvarez? The story of the striker who won it all at Man City before joining Atletico Madrid
City could not turn down the money for Alvarez
A small part of Pep Guardiola probably wishes he could still call on Alvarez. Because the bulk of the goals for Man City this season have come from Haaland.
But ultimately, there was just no way City could turn down over £80 million for him. Realistically, Atleti overpaid for the South American.
| Julian Alvarez for Man City |
| Appearances – 103 |
| Goals – 36 |
| Assists – 18 |
| Bought for – £14m |
| Sold for – £81.5m |
Alvarez had also told Guardiola he wanted a new challenge, so that probably put the writing on the wall.
He was a great player, but for that kind of money, it’s easy to understand why City did not hesitate to sell.
It sounds as though Alvarez has had a decent start so far at the Wanda Metropolitano, but City officials will surely not have any regrets about him being sold.
Hopefully, that will still be the case later in the season.
