The way Julian Alvarez linked with his teammates against Tottenham stood out to me when I watched the Arsenal target dismantle the Gunners’ biggest rivals.
Arsenal showed an eagerness to sign Alvarez last summer, and it appears that the Gunners’ pursuit is far from over.
Excitement about whether the striker could join Arsenal hit a new level after he starred against Tottenham in the Champions League round of 16 first leg.
After the game, Alvarez was unclear about his future, admitting that he could leave in the summer, which would have naturally turned heads at Arsenal.
It’s not only the Argentine’s post-match comments that made the transfer go from fantastical to realistic, but his performance too, as he made it clearer than ever that the Gunners need to go all in for his transfer.
You have £120m to spend on one player in the summer: Are you signing Sandro Tonali or Julian Alvarez?
Julian Alvarez gave Arsenal an audition against Tottenham
Atletico expect Arsenal to spend big on Alvarez, and after what the striker produced against Tottenham, it has to be said that he’s worth it.
When looking at Arsenal’s attack this season, a superstar is clearly missing, particularly a superstar who can link fluidly with his teammates.
Viktor Gyokeres has delivered on some occasions, but one of the forward’s biggest frailties is how disjointed he looks in Arsenal’s frontline.
That’s why, when I watched Alvarez tear Tottenham apart, I noticed how seamlessly he chopped and changed positions and roles to work so well with his teammates.
Agree or disagree: Julian Alvarez should be Arsenal’s primary target this summer – look what he did to Spurs!
It was echoed by his statistics, recording an assist and two key passes, but most notably from an Arsenal point of view, he completed 23 regular passes, a success rate of 88%.
Some might think, how is completing a pass a sign that a striker would be a good fit for Arsenal?
Well, it only takes a glance at Gyokeres’ averages in that area in the Premier League to realise the fluidity the Gunners are missing, as the Swede only averages a woeful 5.6 successful passes per game.
It’s clear that Alvarez has the ability to link with his teammates rather than being simply a goal outlet, but as an added bonus, he’s certainly that as well, scoring twice against Spurs.
The icing on the cake is that the World Cup winner is also Premier League proven, winning the league twice at Manchester City.
All the evidence suggests that Alvarez would be a hit at Arsenal; it’s just up to Andrea Berta to figure out how feasible a transfer would be.
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