One of the biggest, and arguably more surprising transfers of the summer window in 2024 was that of Julian Alvarez from Manchester City to Atletico Madrid. The Argentine World Cup winner departed the Etihad Stadium after just two seasons in an £81m move.
His short time at the eight-time Premier League champions was hugely successful. The 24-year-old pulled on the sky blue shirt 103 times, scoring 36 times and grabbing 18 assists. That included a very impressive 11 goals and nine assists in 36 games last season.
He also has quite an outstanding trophy cabinet to show for his efforts during his time under Pep Guardiola, winning seven. As part of those seven trophies, he won the treble at the Etihad Stadium in 2022/23, which included the Champions League, the Premier League and the FA Cup.
There has been plenty of noise surrounding his replacement this summer, and City did not end up bringing anyone in. However, they may well have had his dream replacement right under their noses but sold him a few years ago. That player is Ferran Torres.
Torres’ record at Barcelona
The Spain international made the move back to his native country in December of 2021, ahead of the 2022 January transfer window. It was a deal that represented a brilliant piece of business for the Cityzens.
They paid the Euro 2024 winner’s former club Valencia just £20.87m to acquire his services in August 2020 and received superb profit. Specifically, that was £46.7m from Barcelona up front and £8.5m in add-ons.
His time at Barca, has, on a personal note, been successful so far. He has played 117 games for the La Liga giants, scoring 26 goals and registering 14 assists. That includes a particularly successful 2023/24 campaign, his best yet in that famous blue and red shirt.
Had the winger still been at the Etihad Stadium nowadays, he could have been a perfect replacement for Alvarez while also providing some fierce competition to one of City’s current stars, Jack Grealish, whom he has begun to outperform.
Jack Grealish’s record at Man City
Since joining City in 2021 for a then-British record £100m, Grealish has certainly struggled to fully settle into a hugely successful side. The Cityzens have dominated English, and for a time, European football whilst the Englishman has been at the club, but he has never really looked like the same player he was at Aston Villa.
In 127 games for Guardiola’s side, the 28-year-old has scored just 14 goals and registered just 18 assists. His most productive campaign so far was in 2022/23, where Grealish scored five goals and assisted seven in 28 Premier League games.
He has certainly struggled to recapture the form he showed as a Villan, which earned him his big move to Manchester. His best season in England’s top flight for his boyhood club brought him six goals and ten assists.
The City number 10 has been outscored by Torres since he departed the club in the winter of 2021/22. This certainly could suggest a miscalculation on City’s part to sell the Spaniard to Barcelona, and he could have given the Englishman some stern competition for his place in the team.
Stat
Torres for Barca
Grealish for Man City
Games
117
127
Minutes
6,172
8,422
Goals
26
14
Assists
14
18
Interestingly, the duo have played six times with each other, and have featured in the same team for a combined 385 minutes. Had Torres stayed at the Etihad Stadium, City fans could well have seen this duo play together more often, and even compete for a direct place in the lineup.
Either way the “special” Torres, as football scout Antonio Mango described him, could have been their ideal replacement for Alvarez this summer, not least due to his flexibility to feature through the middle or on the flanks.
As it is, the versatile star is now shining away from Manchester, with there a question to be asked as to whether he was moved on too soon.
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