A major Manchester City transfer saga is about to ramp up after Fabrizio Romano revealed that the agent of Julian Alvarez will travel to Europe next week for talks with the club after fielding interest from two suitors.
Alvarez’s future is one of the biggest topics lingering over Man City during the transfer window. The striker has admitted he would like to be trusted more in bigger matches, despite acknowledging that he’s been getting plenty of minutes.
Pep Guardiola has hinted he would continue his policy of not standing in the way of unhappy players when assessing Alvarez’s squad status. As long as Erling Haaland remains at the Etihad Stadium, Alvarez is likely to play second fiddle.
There are other clubs queuing up for him, though, who may be able to offer him a higher status. With that in mind, Romano has revealed that Alvarez’s agent will be on his way to Europe within the next seven days for direct talks with Man City.
Fernando Hidalgo will be armed with news of interest from two major European clubs: Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid, each of whom have been in touch with the representative for a couple of months.
Atleti have just signed Alexander Sorloth from Villarreal to strengthen their centre-forward options and are planning to give Samu Omorodion a more important role this season after his loan spell at Alaves and a rejected bid by Chelsea.
PSG, meanwhile, have been in the hunt for Napoli striker Victor Osimhen as they aim to reconstruct their attack following Kylian Mbappe’s move to Real Madrid.
Therefore, it is debatable as to whether or not Alvarez would be any better off in Madrid or Paris. Don’t forget he’s been linked with Arsenal and Chelsea too, but Romano didn’t mention either of those Premier League clubs in his latest update.
With the mounting interest, Man City will have to have a price in mind for Alvarez. As stated, they have rarely stood in the way of an unsettled player before in recent years, even if it means selling to a rival (like when Raheem Sterling went to Chelsea, or Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko went to Arsenal).
But in this case, the four-in-a-row Premier League champions will not be giving up Alvarez on the cheap. After all, he is a 24-year-old talent with four years remaining on his contract.
With that in mind, Romano has ruled out the prospect of him being sold for even €50m. It would take an ‘important fee’ far higher than that to convince Man City to cash in.
They spent €21.4m to sign Alvarez from River Plate in 2022 and will want to maximise the profit they make on him after his 36 goals from 103 appearances for the club so far.
Guardiola gives fresh Alvarez response
Alvarez is yet to appear in pre-season for Man City since he has been on duty at the Olympics, but Argentina are now out of the men’s football competition.
While waiting for Alvarez to return, Man City beat Chelsea 4-2 in a friendly on Saturday night, with Haaland hitting a hat-trick. During his media duties, Guardiola asserted that Alvarez should be at his disposal.
“He’s absolutely our player. He will come back. I count on him,” Guardiola said. “But he said in the news and decisions will be made all together. Now has to rest and when he feels ready to come back he will come back.
“I’m sure when he comes back I’ll hug and congratulate for the Copa America, for the Olympics, and we will start to work together. This is the reality.
“What happens in the meantime, I have a thousand million things to think about the team, if we are ready. Next week we play for the first trophy of the season. Two weeks we play at Stamford Bridge again, that’s my only concern.”
It is not the first time Guardiola has addressed the Alvarez situation. A week ago, he said: “I don’t think about replacing [Alvarez]. I knew he said he will think about it.
“Once he has finished thinking, his agent will call Txiki [Begiristain] and we will see what happens. I know he wants to play in important moments, but the other players [want that] too.
“We have 18 or 19 players who want to play in the important games. I read he has to think about it, so okay think about it and after that he will inform us what he wants to do.”
As Guardiola referred to, Man City face Man Utd for the Community Shield on August 10 before starting their Premier League campaign against Chelsea on August 18.
