Julián Álvarez

Biography of Julian Alvarez

Julian Alvarez (born January 31, 2000) is an Argentine footballer who plays as a forward. He currently plays for Manchester City in the English Premier League. He was trained in the youth academy of Atlético Calchín. In 2017, he played in the Copa Generación Adidas, where he was champion, and a year later he made his professional debut with River Plate. His team won the Copa Libertadores in 2018. He played for the youth national team before making his debut with the senior team in June 2021. His greatest achievement to date has been winning the World Cup with Argentina in 2022.

Beginnings

Julian Alvarez was born in Calchin, Cordoba, the son of Mariana and Gustavo Alvarez. At the age of four, he began playing soccer at the Futura Estrellita school in his hometown. He later played for the youth academy at Club Atletico Calchin, where he remained until he was fifteen. At the age of eleven, he tried out for Real Madrid, but his signing was not completed due to his young age. He also tried his luck at Argentinos Juniors, where he lived in the dorms. In late 2015, he joined the youth academy at River Plate.

At River Plate, Alvarez started in the seventh division. He then moved up to the sixth division and, after being discovered by Marcelo Gallardo, was called up to the first team. In 2017, he played in the Copa Generacion Adidas, where his team finished as champions. He was the team’s top scorer with nine goals, two of which he scored in the final. For 2018, Gallardo promoted him to the first team.

Debut and career with River Plate

His debut with the team took place on October 27, 2018, in a Superliga match against Aldosivi. He started the match and it ended in a 1-0 victory for River. On December 2, he was again a starter in the 3-1 victory over Gimnasia y Esgrima in the 14th round of the Superliga, assisting Rafael Santos Borre for the first goal of the match.

He made his debut in the Copa Libertadores on December 9, 2018, in the return match of the final against Boca Juniors at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. He came on as a substitute in the sixth minute of extra time. After his team’s 3-1 victory, Alvarez became an international champion for the first time in his career that year.

On March 17, 2019, Alvarez scored his first professional goal in the 3-0 victory over Independiente. His first international goal came on May 7, in the 2-2 draw against Porto Alegre in the final round of the group stage of the Copa Libertadores. He later scored in the final of the Copa Argentina against Central Cordoba, before the Covid-19 outbreak.

After the competition resumed, Alvarez continued to score at a high rate in the Copa Libertadores (2020). He scored against Sao Paulo (2-2), Binacional (6-0), and again against Sao Paulo (2-1), where he scored his first professional brace. He closed the group stage with another goal against Liga de Quito, qualifying his team for the round of 16.

Manchester City (2022)

On January 31, 2022, River Plate officially announced the transfer of Julian Alvarez to Manchester City in England, with a five and a half year contract worth around $24 million. $19 million would remain with River Plate. The transfer was made on the condition that Alvarez would continue to play for River Plate until December 2022, on loan. However, due to a complementary clause, Manchester brought forward the transfer to July.

Loan

On May 25, 2022, Alvarez scored six goals in the historic 8-1 thrashing of Alianza Lima in the final round of the group stage of the Copa Libertadores. He became the first footballer in the history of River Plate to score six goals in an official match and the second to score such a number in the history of the Copa Libertadores.

His last goal for River Plate came on July 3, against Huracan in the sixth round of the 2022 Professional League. In his final campaign with River Plate, Alvarez played 26 matches and scored 18 goals.

Debut with Manchester City

On July 20, 2022, Alvarez made his debut with the team in Manchester’s 2-1 victory over Club America. He came on as a substitute for Delap in the 71st minute of the match. Ten days later, he scored his first goal in the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool. His arrival at the English team has been under particular circumstances, as he has shared his arrival with Norwegian forward Erling Haaland, who has had a sensational debut. However, and although many might consider Julian’s role as secondary, he has successfully integrated into Guardiola’s playing style. In 2022, Julian played in all competitions with Manchester City, scoring 7 goals, 2 of them in the Champions League.

National team

Álvarez was first called up to the youth national team in late 2018. He played in the U-20 South American Championship in Chile, debuting in the draw against Paraguay as a starter. He scored his only goal in the tournament against Colombia. In preparation for the 2019 U-20 World Cup, he scored his second goal against the Saudi Arabia national team. At the World Cup, he played in every game his team participated in. In August 2019, he was called up to the Argentine U-23 national team. With the U-23 team, he first played in the two friendly matches against Bolivia and Colombia and then participated in the 2020 South American Pre-Olympic.

Senior national team

Julián Álvarez was first called up to the Argentine senior national team on May 24, 2021, to participate in the qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Later, he was part of the team that was crowned champion of the 2021 Copa América. On March 18, he was called up again to play in the last double match of the qualifiers and scored his first goal with the senior national team in the 1-1 draw against Ecuador.

On May 13, he was called up to play in the Finalissima, a cup that pitted the champion of the Copa América against the champion of the Euro Cup: Argentina against Italy. As a result, Álvarez achieved his second title with the national team. In the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Álvarez was one of the standout players on the team that was crowned world champion, scoring 4 goals in 7 games and showing great determination. At just 22 years old, he became a world champion. Julián Álvarez was the second top scorer for the Argentina national team at the Qatar World Cup, only surpassed by Lionel Messi.