Pep Guardiola thinks Arsenal already have a player who is similar to Julian Alvarez
We’re headed towards the end of the transfer window, and one saga in particular looks as if it will dominate this final stretch.
Indeed, Julian Alvarez’s situation at Atletico Madrid remains up in the air, and it’s getting more and more dramatic by the day as the Argentine continues to miss training.
Alvarez is desperate to sign for Barcelona, but Atletico Madrid have made it clear they will not sell to Barca.
Arsenal are also keen on Alvarez, but a return to the Premier League does not appear to be the player’s priority right now.
It may go down to the wire whether Arsenal do sign the World Cup winner, and this would be a statement signing if it got done.
However, even if Arsenal don’t sign Julian Alvarez, they have another player in their squad who may be able to fulfill a similar role.
Pep Guardiola compared Julian Alvarez to Gabriel Jesus
Julian Alvarez has, of course, played in the Premier League before with Manchester City.
Interestingly, during that time, Pep Guardiola made a comparison between Alvarez and Gabriel Jesus.
“He’s a special guy, with his work ethic. He reminds me a bit of Gabriel (Jesus), how aggressive he is without the ball,” Guardiola said.
“For Julian, we are delighted because he played a lot and his contribution was amazing for the team, for the way they played. We have a world champion in our team.”
It’s easy to forget as it has been a long time, but, at his best, Jesus is one of the best attackers around.
Indeed, the Brazilian can do a lot of the same things Alvarez can when he’s fit and firing, but, getting Jesus fit and firing is more than half the battle.
The South American, arguably, hasn’t been fully fit since 2022 and it’s hard to imagine he will ever hit those same levels again.
There are two ways of looking at this. Either Alvarez will be the perfect replacement for what Arsenal had when Jesus was fully fit, or you can hold out hope that Jesus will be the player Arsenal need if they don’t get the Alvarez deal done.
Either way, the comparisons between the two players are very interesting to say the least.
