Mike Minay
BBC Radio Manchester reporter
Image source, ReutersNobody played more games in the Premier League for Manchester City last season than Julian Alvarez.
But would you rank him in the top three players who “must play” or were “critical” to a fourth successive title.
Off the top of my head, I’m saying Rodri, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland all sit ahead.
Of the 11 Premier League goals Alvarez scored across 2023-24, only three were match-winners. OK, you could argue, if he did not score those goals then City would not have won the title, but you could say the same of Oscar Bobb at Newcastle or Haaland at Spurs.
Alvarez wanted to be a number nine, the position that very, VERY few could take away from Haaland at Manchester City.
When the Norwegian missed six weeks over Christmas and the new year, City scored 19 Premier League goals in six games, with Alvarez netting five of those across four games (for reference, Bernardo Silva and Foden scored three, Jack Grealish and Rodri two).
Was that enough to stake his claim?
After 31 January, he only scored three more times in 15 games. When you list all of his games in order throughout the season there are purple patches, but there are also barren spells.
Maybe he was slightly out of position, sitting in behind Haaland rather than alongside him or in his place, but for a man wanting his fair share, you would expect a few more goals.
Ultimately, football is a business. Manchester City have shown their success at player sales in recent seasons and this is very much the same. They paid £14m for Alvarez in January 2022 and have sold him for about six times that if all add-ons are met.
For a second striker, that’s not bad business at all.
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