The wait for Julian Alvarez to become a Manchester City player is almost over.
Even if the transfer may not be officially announced until the final day of the January transfer window as all i s are dotted and t s crossed, the River Plate president has confirmed the deal is effectively done and Alvarez and his agent have again exchanged messages celebrating their partnership on social media.
What is less clear, however, is when the forward will actually play at the Etihad under Pep Guardiola.
To say City are paying a fee not far off the money spent on Ferran Torres from Valencia, there does not appear to be a rush to get Alvarez to Manchester; he is set to stay at River Plate until the summer, and could even continue there next season depending on how the Copa Libertadores is progressing.
City have of course done this before, when they beat off competition from top European clubs to sign Gabriel Jesus in 2016 and allowed him to stay at Palmeiras and fire them to the Brazilian league title.
However, not only was Jesus two years younger but he arrived at the Etihad at a time when Guardiola was struggling to get his ideas across to the players. Jesus turned up and made a huge and instant impact, displacing Sergio Aguero from the starting XI within months, but he was helped by the struggles that his new teammates were having.
As the Fiorentina sporting director pointed out last week, Alvarez has gambled in choosing City over another European club where the path to the first team would have been more straightforward; the fact that he is not heading straight to Manchester in a season where Guardiola remains without a goalscorer will do little to change those opinions.
Alvarez can hope to change opinions when he does make the jump, but he can also do as much as he can to pick the right moment to move. As much as he will want to consider River Plate, and to a lesser extent the Argentina national team, the 21-year-old has to start thinking about his move in terms of when he can have the biggest instant impact on the City squad.
Of course he is aware that City plan to sign a No.9 in the summer window, but him and his representatives also know how long and tortuous it proved for the Blues last year pursuing Erling Haaland and Harry Kane. Even if City finally land Haaland this summer, there could well be a chunk of pre-season for other players to take their chance before any deal can be agreed.
Equally though, if the Blues do not see him immediately as a first-team player, the more time Alvarez can build his reputation in South America the more clout and confidence he will have when he does join up with the City squad.
Alvarez can't know when the perfect time to move is, but how well he can pick his moment could go a long way to establishing how well he can prove doubters of the transfer wrong.
