Manchester City under Pep Guardiola is currently stacked with superstars and when Pep praises a player’s performance normally it turns out to be Rordi, Erling Haaland or Kevin de Bruyne. The defending champions started their Champions League campaign against Serbian club Red Star Belgrade where City were 1-0 down at half time.
Pep made some changes and finally won the match 3-1 with one of the players scoring 2 goals. Pep heavily praised him by saying “He is so young and he has everything. Fighting, goals, assists and he is an incredible, lovely guy.” Here Pep is talking about his 23-year-old signing from Argentina last summer, Julian Alvarez.
🎙️ Pep Guardiola: “Julián has it all. The goals, the fight and the assists.”
✍️ @gastonedul pic.twitter.com/xZG2lrtZXp
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) September 21, 2023
Julian Alvarez is currently having the time of his life as at such a young age, he has won everything from the FIFA World Cup with Argentina to the Copa Libertadores with River Plate. Though signed last season, the “Spider” could not get enough game time but now Pep is trusting the young forward more and he is showing Pep what he is made of.
Pundits and fans also agree that even though Haaland can score more goals than Alvarez, the Argentine is more of a complete footballer and has come to life several times when his team has needed him. Former Scottish soccer player and pundit Ally McCoist also believes it will be very hard for Pep to drop Alvarez after his superb performances.
How has Julian Alvarez performed this season?
Julian Alvarez is now playing as an understudy of Haaland just behind him and will continue to do so until Belgian Kevin de Bruyne returns from his injury. Signed from River Plate for a small fee of $17.37 million, fans could see how good Julian Alvarez was last season with his 22 goal involvements which included important goals in the UEFA Champions League.
Fans expected to see more of their Sergio Aguero regen this season. The World Cup winner has already played in all the matches. He has 4 goals to his name and has assisted 4 further. Soccer pundit and former City player Micah Richards has also spoken in praise of the Argentine and believes he is City’s go-to man for the big matches.
Julián Álvarez vs FK Crvena zvezda:
90 Minutes Played
2 Goals
1.14 xG
88 Touches
90% Accurate Passes
7 Key Passes
7 Crosses
5 Shots on Target
3 Dribbles Attempted
9 Ground Duels (5 Won)IMMENSE PERFORMANCE 🇦🇷 #ManchesterCity #Alvarez pic.twitter.com/bKCHQ6xPNU
— Stats Optic (@TheStatsOptic) September 20, 2023
He currently falls in the 99th percentile for assists, goal contributions and expected assists in the Premier League, fair to say Manchester City are not missing De Bruyne as much as they thought they would. His average Sofascore rating has also been above 7.5 this season in 8 games. His performances in club football and World Cup also earned him a spot in the Ballon d’Or list of nominees
📊 Top Key Passers 23/24 T5 League:
Iago Aspas – 21
Téji Savanier – 19
Romain Del Castillo – 17
Pedro Neto – 17
Julián Álvarez – 16
Bruno Fernandes – 16
Vincenzo Grifo – 16
Andrej Kramarić – 16
Pascal Groß – 16
Isco – 16
Florian Wirtz – 16 pic.twitter.com/sCHW8k0mTU— Football_stats (@ConwayStats) September 19, 2023
He ranks in the fourth position in the top key passers among players playing in the top 5 leagues in Europe. With Alvarez continuing to impress every matchday, there will come a time when Pep has to come up with a formation where he can fit all his top players because this season Alvarez has been too good to drop.