Pep Guardiola
Julian Alvarez will play as a central striker when he finally joins Manchester City next season. The 22-year-old Argentina international last week signed for the Blues in a £14million deal, but will remain with River Plate on loan at least until summer at the earliest. Guardiola said that Alvarez is seen very much as a striker, or even as a second striker:
Pep Guardiola said: “He will play up front in the middle. He is a play more in-between-in-the-pockets and as a striker. A guy who has his sense of goal has to play close to the ball. That’s for sure.”
Guardiola also admitted he had some input into the decision to sign Alvarez but that the final decision rested with the club, as always. But having studied the rising star of Argentinian football, who won his sixth international cap last week, Guardiola marked him down as a natural finisher.
Pep Guardiola said: “He is a guy who is so dynamic he doesn’t need many things to… the goal is there in his mind, the way he finishes and the way he makes the movement over four or five metres. He has the desire and the passion and the strength without the ball. At 18 or 19 years old the age that he has is so young that you see he is hungry. He is starving! At that age it is so nice to have it. It refreshes many things in one team when you have a few players like that. That’s why I love to work with academy players who have the talent and skills and they are good here. When this happens it is so productive for the old seniors for the vintage players that still we have. It is so so important because they produce something new in terms of rhythm – that’s why I like to have 16 top players otherwise you cannot compete. The rest — five, six or seven — I like to be in the academy but they have to be good otherwise there is no sense in it.”
