After his unhappy last game in River with elimination from the Copa Libertadores included, the Cordovan Julián Álvarez stopped by the club’s premises in Ezeiza this Friday to say goodbye of his teammates and coaching staff before leaving for England to join Manchester City.
The millionaire social networks portrayed the visit with images of the 22-year-old scorer with Marcelo Gallardo and hugged with several teammates, while uploading a video with the player thanking the institution and the fans.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, the Manchester City He took the opportunity to officially present one of his reinforcements, with statements from the footballer himself. “The truth is that I am very happy to come here to this club, as a boy I always dreamed of playing in Europe, in the big leagues and being here is a privilege. I am very excited to be able to reach the Premier and proud to be here,” said Álvarez in his first words -always in Spanish- as a player of the English team.
“I feel ready to play for City. This is, without a doubt, one of the biggest teams in world football. Pep’s style of play is exciting and I can’t wait to be a part of it. I am very grateful for everything that River did for me but now I am 100% focused on Manchester City”, completed the “Spider”, who signed a 5-year contract.
One of the items in the footballer’s presentation was the publication on the club’s networks of a video with images of Álvarez as a child along with some of his goals with the River shirt, where he totaled 122 games and 54 goals.
In the video, a purrete Álvarez is seen expressing his desire to join teams with “great players”while also telling the reason for the nickname “Spider” that reinforces it so much with its Spiderman-style celebration.
“We are delighted to confirm the arrival of Julián Álvarez,” the club said. For its part, the sports director of the team, the Spanish Txiki Begiristain, added: “I said when we announced the signing that we were bringing a player with significant potential and everything we have seen of him since then has only confirmed it. He scores all kinds of goals and has a lot of variety in his game.”
On Guardiola and Aguero
When asked Regarding coach Pep Guardiola, the Argentine National Team player (9 games, one goal) indicated: “I had the opportunity to speak with him in February, he welcomed me to the club and was happy that he was part of the project, He is one of the best coaches in the world who was in elite clubs. Be available to continue growing as a footballer and as a person.”
Alvarez also commented that spoke with Wilfredo Caballero, Sergio Agüero and Nicolás Otamendi -three former Manchester City- to catch up on football in England. “We all know how important he was at the club, which also means in the world as a player. I had the chance to talk, he told me about the city, about his teammates, about Manchester City in general,” he said about Kun.
River and the new number
As to leave river to go to a foreign entity, he said: “It’s a big change, but it has similarities with what happened to me all this time because of being in one of the biggest clubs in America and moving to one of the biggest in Europe.”.
Finally, about his new shirt number, Álvarez justified: “I’ve been using number 9 and I wanted that number to be there. It’s also an important date because my grandmother’s birthday was on the 19th.”