Manchester City’s new Argentine star Julian Alvarez has had his say on his fellow incoming forward Erling Haaland.
For a team that has missed a regular striker for two seasons, Manchester City now are blessed with an abundance of attacking talent.
Their forward line has been bolstered by not one, but two strikers, who have proved themselves extremely clinical in front of goal at their previous clubs.
Following the January acquisition of River Plate star Julian Alvarez, Manchester City then followed up with a sensational move for Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland in June.
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City had been long time admirers of the Norwegian striker - whose father had also played for the English club at the turn of the century.
Since the announcement that Haaland would join Manchester City, the majority of the talk regarding the club this summer has been solely focused on him yet this changed this weekend with the arrival of Alvarez.
The forward had remained in Argentina for six months where he had carried on playing for River Plate before finally touching down in Manchester this weekend, following his last match for the Argentinian giants against Velez Sarsfield.
While answering questions at his and fellow new signings Haaland and Stefan Ortega’s presentation, the young Argentine was quizzed about his new strike partner.
“(Erling) Haaland is a great player, he's shown it before, always scores goals.
"I don't have to focus on him, I want to focus on myself, work hard in training and when I have the chance to play, give my best and contribute to the team,” said Julian Alvarez.
The forward duo represent a scary prospect for opposition defences with both showing deadly potency.
Erling Haaland notched a ridiculous 85 goals in 88 appearances to date, while Julian Alvarez himself scored 53 goals and assisted 31 more in 120 appearances for River Plate.
The current Premier League champions have been known to have strike duos in recent years with Argentines Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero for example forming a brutal attack together at the start of the last decade.
Yet interestingly, City manager Pep Guardiola is not known to play regularly with two striker formations and has often opted for a lone forward approach in past seasons.
Whether that be David Villa at Barcelona, Robert Lewandowski at Bayern Munich, or City legend Aguero, Guardiola usually prefers just one striker.
It will be intriguing to see if Manchester City’s two newest recruits will form the deadly strike partnership that is being teased by their individual records.
Whether Guardiola opts to play Haaland and Alvarez together or rotates them, he will know that his so-called striker crisis is now well and truly over.
Topics: Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Manchester City, Premier League, Pep Guardiola, Football
Edward Burnett