Why Alvarez is proving Guardiola's 'mistake' fear to be true

 

When discussing Pep Guardiola's transfer market mistakes at Manchester City, Cole Palmer is often the name that comes up. However, while Palmer has thrived at Chelsea since his departure in the summer of 2023, another more recent sale has also come back to haunt the Premier League champions.

Julian Alvarez's move to Atletico Madrid in August has become a source of regret for City. Even Guardiola acknowledged that it "could be a problem" if his squad faced injuries, but he couldn’t have predicted how impactful the Argentine forward would be in Spain after joining for around £81m.

Alvarez, 24, has been in sensational form, scoring his 12th goal of the season on Wednesday to help Atletico defeat Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League. He also provided assists for two of Antoine Griezmann's goals, contributing to a 10-game winning streak for the Madrid club.

Former Liverpool and Chelsea midfielder Nigel Spackman remarked on TNT Sport, "He is a striker that is making the game look so easy at the moment."

While Alvarez's numbers haven't reached the heights of Cole Palmer, who has amassed 57 goal involvements in 62 games for Chelsea, he has still made a significant impact. Alvarez's 12 goals and two assists in 24 appearances have helped Atletico Madrid secure third place in La Liga, just three points behind leaders Barcelona, while also making strong progress in the Champions League.

Meanwhile, City have struggled, winning only once in their last 10 matches, with key players like Phil Foden, Kevin de Bruyne, Jack Grealish, and Jeremy Doku facing fitness and form issues. Erling Haaland, despite 18 goals in all competitions, has only scored four times in this stretch, and City’s next top scorer has just three goals – shared among six players.

Alvarez's stellar Champions League form continues, with four goals in the competition so far this season, further cementing his incredible record. In fact, of players who have played over 1,000 minutes in the competition's history, only Haaland has a better minutes per goal or assist ratio than Alvarez.

Teammate Antoine Griezmann praised Alvarez, saying: "Julian is an outstanding player. It's a joy and a source of pride to have him with us. Hopefully we can keep helping him and enjoy having him around."

Alvarez has been directly involved in 12 goals in as many Champions League starts—nine goals and three assists—which is a remarkable achievement. To put this into perspective, it took Lionel Messi 24 appearances to reach 12 goals in the competition.

After joining City from River Plate in 2022, Alvarez scored 36 goals and provided 18 assists in 103 appearances for the club, winning multiple Premier League titles and the Champions League. However, he was often second to the prolific Haaland.

Guardiola revealed that Alvarez had asked to leave for a "new challenge," despite Guardiola wanting to keep him at the Etihad. The City boss said, "He believes his period here must be over, so both clubs arrived at an agreement." Guardiola admitted that if City faced injuries, the decision could prove problematic but also mentioned that other players like Oscar Bobb, Phil Foden, James McAtee, Ilkay Gundogan, and Bernardo Silva could fill Alvarez's role. Despite these alternatives, Guardiola conceded, "Maybe it is a mistake, I don’t know, but I don’t like leaving players without playing for a long time."