Report: Man City ‘to demand £80m for Barcelona, Real Madrid-linked Julian Alvarez’

If a buyer is willing to offer Manchester City £80 million for Argentine forward Julian Alvarez, then the player may be sold.

Despite playing second fiddle to Erling Haaland in his first season at the Etihad, the former River Plate sensation showed off his enormous potential by scoring 17 goals and providing five assists in 49 games across all competitions.

Alvarez has seized his chance in the 2023–24 season, playing just off Haaland in the closing third of the game, with Kevin De Bruyne sidelined by a severe hamstring injury.

In 12 games in the Premier League and Champions League, the 23-year-old has netted seven goals and assisted five more, bringing his total for the Citizens to 24 goals and 10 assists from 64 appearances since arriving in 2022.

Alvarez, who also scored four goals and provided an assist in Argentina’s 2022 World Cup run, signed a contract extension with Man City that was extended until 2028 back in March because of his continuing development.

Despite his long-term renewal, Alvarez is supposedly being courted by both Barcelona and Real Madrid, although Man City remain confident of retaining the South American’s services.

Football Insider claims that the treble champions would want for up to £80 million in order to consider selling Alvarez during the summer transfer window of the following year, setting a club record.

Alvarez was only acquired by the Citizens for €21.4 million (£18.7 million) from River Plate in January 2022; nevertheless, he stayed on loan in Argentina until he joined Pep Guardiola’s team.

A few months after Alvarez made his official debut, Manchester City let Raheem Sterling leave in a £49 million move to join Chelsea, making Sterling’s exit the most costly one in club history.

The article also states that Man City plans to keep Alvarez on the books and has no financial reason to look into a sale, even though the club would be well-positioned to demand a much greater price to let Alvarez go.

Guardiola allegedly feels that there is still more to come from the Argentina international, who was a second-half substitute in Wednesday’s 3-1 Champions League victory over BSC Young Boys.

Rumor has it that Real Madrid targeted Alvarez as a long-term replacement for Karim Benzema, who abruptly departed the team to join Al-Ittihad just one year before his deal was set to expire this summer.

Along with 11-goal midfielder Jude Bellingham, who is on loan from Espanyol, Joselu, Ronaldgo, and Vinceus Junior have shared the attacking load this season. However, Real Madrid will be searching for Benzema’s replacement in 2019 and is anticipated to make another run at Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe.

Due to Robert Lewandowski’s availability, Barcelona did not aggressively look for a replacement number nine in the summer. However, with Ousmane Dembele joining PSG, the La Liga winners were able to bring in Joao Felix on loan from Atletico Madrid.

In his first ten appearances for the team, the 23-year-old has three goals and four assists, but it’s unclear if he’ll be a regular member of the Blaugrana come next season.

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