The full extent of Manchester City’s investment in 21-year-old Argentina whizzkid Julian Alvarez have been revealed.
The Blues are set to finalise a deal for the South American Footballer of the Year for an initial £17.9million - but Alvarez will remain at his club River Plate on loan until later in the year.
Sources in Argentina claim the deal is currently being finalised after the basics were thrashed out at a meeting of City ’s South American recruitment team with River representatives late last week.
Alvarez has been in sensational form in the last 18 months since bursting onto the scene for River three years ago - he scored 22 goals in 45 games last season to fuel their drive to the Argentinian title.
That earned him the ultimate individual accolade in South American football, and saw him called up for Argentina for five caps - he is also in their squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Colombia this week.
The sources suggest Alvarez will join up with City in July if River Plate are eliminated from the Copa Libertadores early.
Alvarez’s five goals in six group games helped to fire them to the semi-finals in 2020, and if that happens again he will remain with the Argentinian champions until November, and would then be expected to link up with the Blues.
But if City want to curtail his loan back to River Plate, they have agreed to pay a compensatory fee of £1.2m on top of his transfer fee.
The source also claims that City will top up the salary Alvarez receives from River, so that he will receive the full amount of the pay agreed in his deal with the Blues.
Alvarez is expected to sign a five-year deal, and the transfer is expected to be announced later this week.
