Having an extra six months to prepare for life at Manchester City will benefit Julian Alvarez in the long-term, he says.
Alvarez signed for City in January for an initial £14m from River Plate, and spent six months back on loan in Argentina for their start of their domestic season until July. In that time, he scored 17 goals with six assists in 24 outings, and has already scored his first goal for City in the Community Shield defeat to Liverpool.
As well as arriving at City in peak condition and in good form, Alvarez says the time between signing for City and arriving in Manchester was useful for adapting to the transfer mentally.
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"It has been good having that extra time to plan. There was not that pressure on me to move here with any urgency," he told Sky Sports.
"That gave me more time to build information, prepare for this move and the challenge of having to adapt to changing club and moving country.
"There have been lots of comments about me and messages sent directly to me since I signed for City at the end of January. I have certainly felt it on social media, on the various platforms. There is always pressure, of course. What I want to do is to bring happiness to the fans with assists and goals."
To help him adapt, Alvarez says he contacted City legend and former Argentina teammate Sergio Aguero, saying: "Sergio told me some things about what it is like to work under Pep. He told me about how the training is run at City. He told me about the city of Manchester itself. I spoke to him at the time of my signing and again during the last few days and weeks as well.
"He has given me all kinds of different advice, all of which I obviously listened to very carefully with this being a new world for me moving to Manchester. I wanted to listen to everything Sergio said so that I could adapt as quickly as possible to life in England."
And after arriving, Alvarez opened up on working under Pep Guardiola in the month he's spent in Manchester.
"Even in the very short time that I have been here you can see straight away that he is a very hard worker and a great coach," he said.
"What I have noticed so far is that he is very much a details man, it is all about the details across the board with everything. His record speaks for itself. He has been at the top level for many, many years and I think it comes across to everyone that he is a fighter."
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