Before Manchester City faced Everton in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, Man City manager Pep Guardiola revealed how he was able to help Julián Alvarez ascend into the elite — and how much he misses
La Araña now that he is the star attraction at Atlético de Madrid.
“The Treble, you know the players I had on the bench? Aymeric Laporte, an incredible central defender, Alvarez, other ones,” Guardiola told reporters on Friday, reminiscing over his 2022/23 City side. “I’d love to have them. But they wanted to play. They didn’t, they left.”
In 2022, City won a heated race against many other elite sides to sign Alvarez from his boyhood club River Plate for the low price of £14 million. That year, Alvarez won the World Cup with Argentina and became the first player ever to win a continental treble in the same season.
Alvarez’s role changed the following year, when he stepped in for an injured Kevin De Bruyne and played behind Erling Haaland. But as we later found out, Alvarez was not thrilled with his minutes or his position, while his family did not especially want to stay in England. That triggered La Araña’s move to Atlético, completed 14 months ago for a €75 million initial fee.
“Julián had to compete with Erling,” Guardiola said. “When that happened, he’s top. That’s why now he’s at one of the best teams in the world, Atleti, playing for a top class manager, players, performing unbelievably.”
Indeed he is. Alvarez made global headlines with his brace against Real Madrid last month, during which he scored a spectacular free kick as part of a historic 5-2 win; in LaLiga, he is behind only Kylian Mbappé in the Pichichi race, having scored six goals to Mbappé’s nine.
This comes after a debut season at Atlético in which Alvarez scored 17 goals in LaLiga and 29 in all competitions, his role under Diego Simeone morphing into that of a complete center-forward.
“Maybe I’d love to have him but I understand,” Guardiola said, echoing comments he made in August 2024 about Alvarez’s request to leave Etihad Stadium. “At the end, many players have (left). We have many, many examples of that.”
Alvarez will look to add to his goal tally on Saturday night, when Atlético host Osasuna at Estadio Riyadh Air Metropolitano. With Atleti returning to health over the FIFA break, Alvarez hopefully soon will be able to reap the benefits of playing in front of newly-acquired playmakers Thiago Almada and Álex Baena.
