Alvarez to Atletico for £81.5m
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football...s/clywwgzv51vo
Atletico Madrid have agreed an £81.5m deal to sign Manchester City forward Julian Alvarez.
The fee is made up of an initial £64.4m (75m euros) with a further £17.1m (20m euros) in potential add-ons.
It would be a record sale for City, surpassing the £50m Chelsea paid for Raheem Sterling in 2022.
Alvarez said he would wait until Argentina's involvement in the 2024 Olympics football ended before making a decision on his future. The team were knocked out by hosts France last Friday.
Manager Pep Guardiola had been keen to keep the 24-year-old and the Spaniard said earlier in August that he "counted" on Alvarez ahead of the start of the season.
"I count on him, but he said in the news that decisions will be made all together," said Guardiola.
But, as has been the case in the past with Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte, City will not stand in the way of a player who wants to leave.
Atletico, who have also agreed a deal to sign Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher, are yet to agree personal terms with Alvarez.
The Argentine, who joined City in 2022 in a £14.1m deal from River Plate, has scored 36 goals in 106 appearances for Guardiola's side.
Alvarez won the Treble during his first season at the Etihad and the striker featured during Argentina's 2022 World Cup victory in Qatar midway through the campaign.
City bought him for £14m
I'm going to the home friendly against Leverkusen tomorrow.
I know you can't tell everything from a friendly but am very much hoping to see Calefiori, if so will be interesting to see where Arteta puts him, as well as Timber.
Might also get to see Vieira on the right again as he's been playing there in Saka's absence apparently, I think he's shown promise there in the past.
Also very much hoping to see Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly who have looked good in the friendlies so far apparently
How the hell have City got that for Alvarez FFS.
Just been looking at Leverkusen’s comings and goings. Normally you’d expect a team like that to lose a lot of its best players. Then again take away Florian Wirz and they don’t really have top players, couple of players they’ve had on loan have returned but largely the squad is as it is with a few additions.
Then again that seems to be redolent of a transfer market that is quite sedate in general
Last edited by HCZ_Reborn; 06-08-2024 at 01:59 PM.
Well I hope so, my comment is really on the state of play of things not just with Arsenal but across Europe. The only really big transfers were agreed at the end of last season. But I do think financial sustainability rules have made things harder, in some ways it’s a good thing it’s stopped clubs like Newcastle from just buying up every single player going but it’s also cemented the status quo in a way.
But we shall see. I think we can probably just about get away without more signings before the season starts. But we need more than what we have especially after international break. Spurs away, CL tie, City away