Guardiola hails Man City's acquisition of 'street player' Alvarez
Martin Macdonald
- 4 Feb 2022 17:49 GMT
- 6 min read
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has hailed the club's acquisition of Argentine wonderkid Julian Alvarez from River Plate.
Alvarez has been making quite the name for himself in South America and his performances over the past year started to attract the attention of the biggest club's in Europe.
Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona registered an interest, but it was eventually Man City who won the race for his signature as a €18.5 million transfer was sealed in the January transfer window.
Guardiola is clearly happy with the signing, and also revealed that Man City turned down the chance to have Alvarez join right away so he could continue his development with River.
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He said at a press conference on Friday:
"I saw the player many times and had information about him, and for the age, for the price, for many reasons said 'wow, for the future it is a really, really good deal'. The guy who has a sense of goal, the quality, the movement in behind, he's a street player.
"He's a player who could be already with us right now, but we have enough players in that position. I don't like to to have the many players in several positions and the best thing for him is to stay with River Plate where he has developed incredibly well in the last few years under Marcelo Gallardo.
"Then in pre-season, he will be with us, and we will decide what happens then because every season the squad changes, but I am personally and we are really pleased to have this talented player, a young player for the next years."
How good is Julian Alvarez?
Any player likened to Lionel Messi will have something about them, but in terms of how he actually plays, the main reason Alvarez is compared to Messi is the fact they are both Argentine.
While Messi made his name as a mercurial winger, Alvarez plays best through the middle as a central striker.
He is probably a harder worker than Messi was at his age, too, as he constantly pressures defenders, utilising his stamina and aggression.
Like Messi, Alvarez possesses a lovely command of the ball and a flair which allows him to be confident on the ball in the final third.
He has a lovely bit of acceleration to get him beyond opponents, while he is also stronger than he looks, too.
Alvarez joined River from Atletico Calchín in 2016, and prior to that actually had a trial with Real Madrid in which he impressed.
Though he made an impression in the white of Los Blancos, Real Madrid could not sign him at the time due to age restrictions.
He would go on to make his senior debut for the Argentine giants in October of 2018 in a fixture versus Aldosivi.
Alvarez truly came into his own in 2021, with a magnificent return of 24 goals and 15 assists in just 46 appearances in all competitions.
It is that kind of form that led to the suitors starting to queue up.
