Manchester City could allegedly consider the sale of Argentinian attacker Julian Alvarez should an interested party stump up a bid of £80m.
The former River Plate starlet played second fiddle to Erling Haaland during his debut season at the Etihad, although he still demonstrated his huge potential with 17 goals and five assists from 49 games in all tournaments.
With Kevin De Bruyne out of action due to a serious hamstring injury, Alvarez has grasped his opportunity with both hands in the 2023-24 campaign, where he has played just off Haaland in the final third.
The 23-year-old has scored seven goals and set up five more in 12 games across the Premier League and Champions League, taking his total for the Citizens to 24 goals and 10 assists from 64 games since touching down in 2022.
Owing to his continued progression, Alvarez - who also came up with four goals and an assist during Argentina's run to 2022 World Cup glory - extended his Man City contract until 2028 back in March.
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Despite his long-term renewal, Alvarez is supposedly being courted by both Barcelona and Real Madrid, although Man City remain confident of retaining the South American's services.
According to Football Insider, the treble winners would demand as much as £80m to consider selling Alvarez in next year's summer window, which would represent a club-record sale.
The Citizens only forked out €21.4m (£18.7m) to bring Alvarez to Manchester from River Plate in January 2022, although he remained on loan in Argentina before linking up with Pep Guardiola's squad.
A few months after Alvarez officially joined the club, Man City allowed Raheem Sterling to depart for Chelsea in a £49m deal, which made the Englishman their most expensive departure of all time.
While Man City would be well-placed to demand a significantly higher fee to let Alvarez leave, the report adds that the club intend to keep the striker on the books and have no financial need to explore a sale.
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Guardiola allegedly feels that there is still more to come from the Argentina international, who was a second-half substitute in Wednesday's 3-1 Champions League victory over BSC Young Boys.
Real Madrid are thought to have earmarked Alvarez as a long-term replacement for Karim Benzema, who unexpectedly left for Al-Ittihad a year before his contract was due to expire this summer.
Espanyol loanee Joselu, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo have shared the attacking burden this season alongside 11-goal midfielder Jude Bellingham, but Real will be on the hunt for Benzema's successor next year and are expected to try again for Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe.
Meanwhile, Barcelona were not actively searching for a new number nine in the summer due to the form of Robert Lewandowski, but Ousmane Dembele's move to PSG saw the La Liga champions bring Joao Felix to the club on loan from Atletico Madrid.
The 23-year-old boasts three goals and four assists from his opening 10 games for the club, but it remains to be seen whether he will join the Blaugrana permanently next year.
Ben Knapton
