Argentinian striker Julian Alvarez is set to join La Liga side Atletico Madrid as the Spanish club and Manchester City have agreed to terms Tuesday.
Atletico are set to pay up to €95M, with £64M (€75M) due up front and another £17m (€20M) in performance based add-ons available as well. The departure is a massive profit from the £14M which City paid to acquire Alvarez’s rights back in 2022.
While Alvarez has not yet agreed to personal terms with the Spanish side, but that hurdle is believed to be a mere formality at this point of negotiations. The 24 year old will now depart to undergo his medicals in Spain before the deal can become official.
Alvarez scored 36 goals over 103 contests with Manchester City, helping the squad to capture a treble in 2023 and another Premier League title last year. While the club was reportedly reluctant to part ways with the talented South American, it was unlikely that Alvarez would replace Erling Haaland as the club’s focal point on offence anytime soon, making him ultimately expendable.
City’s signing of Brazilian winger Savinho may have played a minor role in Alvarez’s departure as Pep Guardiola looks to tinker with his offensive set up ahead of 2024-25. Whether the club opts to re-enter the market to find another striker they can develop remains to be seen.
For Alvarez, joining Atletico allows him to act as the team’s unquestioned number 1 striker, removing the obstacle that was the all-world talent of Haaland in front of him on the depth chart. As was the case in the past with Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte, City opted not to stand in the way of a player who was seeking a larger role elsewhere.
The acquisition is the 2nd major coup for Atletico this summer as they also agreed to a deal with Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher prior to the Alvarez signing.
Photo: Tasnim News Agency. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.