Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola will have his squad bolstered this summer by the double attacking arrival of Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez.
While City spent big last month to complete a move to sign Norwegian star Haaland from Borussia Dortmund for £51.2million, they will also have January signing Julian Alvarez in the fray, having spent the second half of the 2021/22 Premier League winning campaign out on loan with River Plate in his native Argentina.
Both will link up with Guardiola’s squad in very good form. Haaland scored the winner for Norway against Serbia in the UEFA Nations League on Thursday night, while Alvarez scored a remarkable double hat-trick for River Plate during a Copa Libertadores win last month.
With a forward line that already contains the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling, Jack Grealish, Gabriel Jesus and more, Guardiola will have the task of trying to get the best combinations out each week as City go in search of a fifth Premier League crown in the space of six seasons next term, as well as hunting down a first ever Champions League trophy.
Speaking about the acquisitions of both Haaland and Alvarez, City boss Guardiola has already outlined how to get the best out of the two incoming arrivals, looking to compliment their qualities with is already on the books at the Etihad Stadium.
"Julian is coming, we're going to help him to adapt well,” Guardiola told the Manchester Evening News after Haaland’s arrival. “I think the players when they are good and normally it happens in these type of clubs — they have good vibes and energy to stay positive to understand and to help. Our way to play is so simple.
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"I'm pretty sure [Haaland will adapt]. I have to know him to give a real opinion and work with him. But when he scores his amount of goals it is because he is good and intuitive."
In another interview, Guardiola continued: "We have to try to play good. I never thought the whole defensive situation depends on a central defender, nor the goals we score should depend on a striker. He has scored a lot of goals in his career and we are going to help him through the game have more chances to score goals.
"We are not going to give him responsibility to score goals. We have to win games. To win, we need everyone working the right way to arrive as much as possible and as much as we can arrive there we can do it."
During Haaland’s two and a half years in Dortmund, he scored 86 times in 89 appearances in all competitions for the Black and Yellows, with 15 of those coming in just 13 Champions League appearances.
Alvarez scored 24 goals in 46 games in 2021 for River Plate, netting an even more impressive return of 15 in only 19 outings since going back to Argentina on loan in January.
One player who could leave the Sky Blues in attack this summer is Gabriel Jesus who has been linked with strong transfer interest from Premier League rivals Arsenal.
