As Man City prepare to defend their Premier League title once again, the futures of one or two of their players remain up in the air.
The last thing that Pep Guardiola is likely to want is for dressing room equilibrium to be affected right on top of the new season, however, unless outstanding contract situations are quickly dealt with, that’s almost certainly what will happen.
Man City’s Julian Alvarez won’t be able to sort his future until after the Olympics
Argentine World Cup winner, Julian Alvarez, clearly wants more playing time in 2024/25, but with Erling Haaland ahead of him, that’s unlikely to happen unless the Norwegian powerhouse gets injured.
In that precise scenario, as has happened in the past, Alvarez has been a more than able deputy, and therefore, it’s complete understandable why City would be loathe to allow the striker to leave the club.
Unfortunately for all concerned, nothing is going to happen for a while yet.
“There’s no substantial update yet on Julian Alvarez and nothing to say before the end of the Olympics,” Fabrizio Romano said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive Daily Briefing.
“He wants to play more and Man City want to keep Julian, but that remains the same story as I revealed in June.
“After the Olympics, Julian and his agents will talk to Man City and we will see if there are any more developments.”
If the player is to have any chance of leaving the club, any interested parties – of which Atletico Madrid are believed to be one – will need to pay a huge amount to even get City around the negotiating table.
It would also severely weaken Guardiola’s options from the bench, so it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that he too will require his paymasters to replace Alvarez before a ball is kicked in the new season.