Petition calling for Julian Alvarez to dump girlfriend now has 20,000 signatures

A bizarre petition calling for Manchester City's Julian Alvarez to dump his girlfriend has surpassed 20,000 signatures.

Alvarez has just helped Argentina to a third World Cup win over in Qatar, scoring four times as La Albiceleste went all the way and beat France on penalties.

He was given extended time off by City but showed off his World Cup medal ahead of the game against Everton on Saturday, before making a late cameo in the 1-1 draw.

But the 22-year-old has recently been the subject of an extremely unusual petition set up. One fan took to Change.Org to demand Alvarez split up with his other half Emilia Ferrero, who hails from the same village as Alvarez.

It came after a video where a group of youngsters asked for Alvarez's signature went viral. Emilia, who plays hockey and has 177,000 followers on Instagram, appeared to only let the fans take a group picture.

That riled up some folks online and a petition titled, "Julian, break up with Mary Jane", was set up, as per The Mirror.

'Mary Jane', the name of Spiderman's love interest, is referring to the fact the former River Plate forward is nicknamed 'La Arana' - which translates to 'The Spider'.

20,000 people signed it but it doesn't look like Alvarez will be listening to the outside noise as he posted a picture of him and his girlfriend enjoying the New Year's Eve celebrations in Manchester.

Image: Julian Alvarez

Alvarez signed for City in a £14 million move and has scored seven and assisted two in 20 appearances in all competitions for Pep Guardiola's side.

Guardiola has raved about his qualities and former Chile and Inter Milan star Ivan Zamorano believes he is "more complete" than both Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.

"Julian Álvarez is a more complete forward than Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland," he told Ole.

"Haaland is not good on the wings. And Mbappe does not participate much as a number 9. Julian does all of that."