Chelsea would reportedly need to fork out more than £70m to land Julian Alvarez this summer, with Manchester City keen to avoid a Cole Palmer repeat. There have been murmurings that Alvarez could leave the Etihad Stadium this window with the view of securing more assurances over game time. Erling Haaland is unlikely to be usurped; he is the number one pick.
The striker, who has been linked with a City exit this summer, said he needed to reflect on his future after admitting it wasn’t “pleasant” to be left out of some “important games” last season. That led manager Guardiola to give a somewhat cutting response, with the Spaniard saying, “Think about it”. Now, the 24-year-old has responded while he is representing Argentina at the Paris Olympics.
Alvarez joined City in January 2022 for a fee in the region of £14 million ($18m) and while he has scored 36 goals in 103 games. The former River Plate star has had to play second fiddle to Erling Haaland in attack. Incidentally, whenever a player has crossed Guardiola in his managerial career, they tend to head for the exit. It remains unclear what will happen to the reportedly £77m-valued forward.
Julian Alvarez’s history
Álvarez began his football career in his native Argentina, where he is an academy graduate of River Plate. There making his first-team debut for the club in 2018.
There he spent four seasons and won the Copa Argentina, 2018 Copa Libertadores and the Argentine Primera División in 2021, finishing as the competition’s top scorer.
In 2021, they named him the South American Footballer of the Year. In January 2022, he signed for Manchester City and began playing for the club in the 2022–23 season. He won a continental treble in his debut campaign.
After Qatar 2022, Álvarez continued making headlines. In March 2023, he signed a contract extension with the Cityzens until 2028. His debut season with City earned him the Premier League trophy. The 2022/23 season brought further success with the FA Cup and the Champions League trophy.
At just 24 years old, Julian Alvarez is on the brink of effectively ‘completing’ football.
The Argentine has the perfect opportunity to do just that over the next few weeks. He contests for an Olympic gold at Paris 2024 to complete his collection.
Less than two years ago, he was part of the Argentina squad that triumphed in Qatar to win the 2022 World Cup.
It came just months before winning the treble — consisting of the Premier League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League — in his debut campaign with Manchester City.
What is the World Cup Winner’s price tag?
According to a report from Football Insider, Julian Alvarez could part ways with Manchester City before the end of the transfer window amidst interest in his services from Chelsea. The player seems keen on a move away from Pep Guardiola’s team. They are willing to sanction his departure as long as their asking price of over £40 million is met.
Alvarez started 31 Premier League games last season but this was largely due to the long injury absence of Kevin De Bruyne. The World Cup winner started just two of Man City’s 10 Champions League matches last term.
According to Team Talk, Atletico Madrid are interested in Alvarez as a replacement for Alvaro Morata, who has moved to AC Milan.
Alvarez has been heavily linked with Chelsea as Enzo Maresca leads the blues. But now Arsenal have emerged as another English top flight team interested in Alvarez.
Mikel Arteta’s side have form for bringing City players to North London in recent years, having signed Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus in the summer of 2022 for £30m and £45m respectively.
The transfer window closes soon and remains a curiosity that where the Argentine will land for his future. But if he does depart City, the attacker will be quite a signing for any side in world football.
As featured on ManCityNews.comAs featured on ChelseaNews.com
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