DONE DEAL: Julian Alvarez to join City for £17.9million

An agreement has been reached between River Plate and Manchester City for Julian Alvarez to join Pep Guardiola's side for 17.9 million pounds plus bonuses. Fabrizio Romano, a journalist specialising in the transfer window, reported the consensus between the Argentinian side and the English side and that the player will sign for five years in the Premier League.

He will spend the remainder of the season in River, of course. In this way, the Sky Blues will be ahead of any other suitor who had in mind to get this talent, who has been attracting the attention of big clubs like Real Madrid, Inter or Manchester United not only for weeks, but for months.

Julian Alvarez has yet to play abroad so far in his career, so it will be particularly interesting to see how he adapts to the English elite, where, because of the coach he will be under, he is likely to internalise a touch-based style of play. First, though, he has to spend six months in his native country.

Manchester City and River Plate may soon make the deal official. There is not much time left in the winter transfer window, but more than enough time for the two sides to inform each other through their respective formal channels of the consensus, which may still be subject to a few details.

Alvarez has been in sensational form in the last 18 months since bursting onto the scene for River three years ago - he scored 22 goals in 45 games last season to fuel their drive to the Argentinian title.

That earned him the ultimate individual accolade in South American football, and saw him called up for Argentina for five caps - he is also in their squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Colombia this week.

 

January 25, 2022