Sergio Aguero says Julian Alvarez has the talent to succeed at Manchester City - but does not know where Pep Guardiola is going to employ him.
And the Blues legend, who was forced to retire from the game last year after suffering heart problems at Barcelona, says he does not know where a prime Kun would fit into Pep Guardiola ’s team right now.
City are top of the Premier League despite failing to land Harry Kane as a direct replacement for all-time leading goalscorer Aguero last summer, and having no recognised strikers in the squad.
And the fact they have flourished by using various false nine systems means there has been no urgency to land another striker - they signed Alvarez for £14million last week but he will not link up with the squad until summer, at the earliest.
The Blues are also likely to be in the market for a big-name striker in the next transfer window, but Aguero thinks Alvarez - who he knows from sharing the Argentina dressing room last year - could thrive at the Etihad Stadium.
“He's very good, seriously,” Aguero said on his Twitch account. “I get along very well with him. In the Argentine national team we always joked with each other.
“He always asked me things and as a striker I told him my experience, then he decides. I like him, we should see how they are going to use him at City.
“I don't know if Julián is going to get used to being a nine, I think he's a freer player, as a midfielder, second striker or winger.
“The thing is that Pep doesn't use forwards. I was nine, but normally the coach didn't want to do that and I didn't play. He got used to it that way, it's his tactics. I really don't know where I could fit in right now.”
Aguero did actually have the most prolific spell of his career under Guardiola, with 124 goals in 182 games, but at the start of the manager’s reign he was left out, with Gabriel Jesus preferred - and he struggled to get back into the team after returning in his injury-hit final season.
Guardiola has said that he intends to play Alvarez in a central role, but not necessarily as an out-and-out striker.
The player has stayed on loan with River Plate, returning to action in a goalless friendly draw with Velez Sarsfield ahead of the start of their Argentine Premier League campaign on Saturday.
Said Aguero: “I would put him as a wing so that he adapts, it happens that Pep does not play with two strikers or with 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1
“He always puts in a 4-3-3 or sometimes a line of three and puts five in the middle to attack, and there he plays you with two strikers, but not very often, like three or four times a season.
"Normally it's a 4-3-3 and now he puts Gabriel Jesus on the outside. It happens that City have a lot of replacements now. When I played, I was nine and told Guardiola not to take me out - and he did exactly that,!”
