Alvarez may have to leave Man City to become superstar

Manchester City star Julian Alvarez has claimed that he will decide his plans following the 2024 Olympics. The attacker is currently playing for Argentina during the summer games in France. Argentina is currently top of Group B at the moment, but all four of the teams are level on three points. Group play will conclude on Tuesday as Alvarez’s side faces Ukraine.

Assuming Argentina advances to the knockout stage, Alvarez will remain in France until at least Friday, Aug. 2. Nevertheless, the forward could be involved in the tournament for an additional week if his team continues to win games. The gold medal match is scheduled to be played on August 9th in Paris.

“There is a lot of talk,” Alvarez told reporters ahead of the matchup with Ukraine. “I am focused here [at the Olympics] because it is a short tournament. At Manchester City I feel very good, I played a lot of minutes.”

“But we will see after the games. First, if I can, I will take a few days off. Then we will decide. Maybe it’s annoying to be out in big games, players always want to help on the pitch. But my season was good, so I’m very happy.”

Argentine attacker left on the bench for many of Man City’s top games

Alvarez certainly has a point regarding being left out of manager Pep Guardiola’s starting XI in big games. The Argentine star did manage to feature in 54 total games throughout the 2023/24 season. Nevertheless, he was overlooked in many of the most important matches of the campaign.

For instance, the versatile attacker was left on the bench for both of City’s Champions League quarterfinal fixtures against Real Madrid. He only played 33 total minutes in the two-legged affair. He also started just two of his club’s 10 games in the competition on the season.

Guardiola did utilize Alvarez more in the Premier League. The Argentine started 31 of the 38 top-flight matches across five different positions. Despite this, Alvarez was left on the bench for a series of top matchups down the stretch. This included a game against crosstown rivals Manchester United in March and a massive match with Arsenal in April.

Guardiola then opted to keep Alvarez out of his starting lineup in each of the team’s final four Premier League games of the season. City was battling with Arsenal for the title at the time and needed to win all of these games to collect the trophy.

Alvarez is already being linked with Atletico Madrid

Alvarez has only been with City for two years but has seemingly been unhappy with playing time ever since joining the club from River Plate in 2022. Despite this, he previously opted to sign a contract extension with the reigning English champions back in March of 2023. The deal will keep the forward at City until 2028 unless he asks for a move elsewhere.

During his time with the club, Alvarez has collected six trophies. While every player wants to be successful, most also prefer to be heavily involved in their team’s matches. Alvarez currently falls into this category. His admission that he will think about his future in the coming weeks could very well be to personally debate being on a team that routinely wins trophies versus being the focal point of another potentially less successful team.

Alvarez is just 24 and is set to enter the prime of his career. This is undoubtedly a key aspect of the situation. The forward could spend the next six or seven years of his career being an automatic starter for another big club. There also certainly won’t be any shortage of interested teams should Alvarez want to move away from City. He has already been linked with a move to Atletico Madrid for most of the summer.

In the end, Alvarez will soon have to make a major decision. Nevertheless, he has already collected multiple trophies while mostly being a backup. The Argentine star could now choose to make a big move elsewhere to potentially become a superstar and no one would blame him.

PHOTOS: IMAGO.