Manchester City have finally replaced Julian Alvarez but there are bigger problems to solve

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Manchester City have finally replaced Julian Alvarez but there are bigger problems to solve
Author: Richard Jolly
Published: Jan, 23 2025 09:34

City’s ageing midfield and defensive vulnerabilities leave Pep Guardiola with more questions than answers. Around 36 hours before Omar Marmoush was announced as Manchester City’s third signing in four days, the case for him had never seemed stronger. There was more than one dramatic comeback in the Champions League this week and, as they prepared for what proved a shellacking at Paris Saint-Germain, City may have noted the scoreline from Spain: Atletico Madrid 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen, with both of the victors’ goals by Julian Alvarez.

 [Man City’s ageing midfield was blown against PSG on Wednesday night]
Image Credit: The Independent [Man City’s ageing midfield was blown against PSG on Wednesday night]

They took his tally to 16 goals for the season, nine in his last 12 outings. Pep Guardiola has a policy of letting players leave if they want to and Atletico’s £82m offer was persuasive, but the Argentinian was a favourite of the City manager. He left a void that Marmoush will be charged with filling, of being a Swiss army knife of an attacking option: starter and substitute, striker and No 10 and player who can come inside from a starting berth on the sides, a sidekick for Erling Haaland or a deputy for him. Marmoush may be better equipped than Alvarez for the job of a quasi-winger; that never suited the World Cup winner, but his work rate was such that Guardiola even employed him as a No 8 on occasion.

 [Omar Marmoush may fill the void left by Julian Alvarez but City have other problems to solve]
Image Credit: The Independent [Omar Marmoush may fill the void left by Julian Alvarez but City have other problems to solve]

At Atletico, Alvarez can have a centrality. At City, he ranked as a deluxe member of the supporting cast. And if Marmoush’s £59m fee, given the Argentinian was a £14m bargain, may render him still more of one, Alvarez’s exit left a void that City seemed strangely reluctant to fill in the summer and which they have only belatedly, and expensively addressed. For swathes of the season, their second top scorer has been Josko Gvardiol: a buccaneering left-back, but essentially a converted centre-back. When the goals dried up for many of City’s midfielders, they missed Alvarez more. Even as Haaland has tried to share the blame for their slide, Guardiola has demurred. The Norwegian scored his 23rd goal of the season in Paris. His manager has tended to point out they would be rather worse off without his considerable contribution.

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