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Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez hopes to offer Pep Guardiola’s side “different solutions” this season, having marked his competitive debut with a goal.
The forward netted a second-half equaliser for City in the Community Shield against Liverpool at the King Power Stadium, cancelling out Trent Alexander-Arnold’s opener, though Jurgen Klopp’s side would go on to win 3-1 thanks to Mohamed Salah’s penalty and Darwin Nunez’s late header.
Alvarez’s goal saw him catch the eye in what was otherwise a disappointing attacking display from City.
The 22-year-old had just two touches inside the box during his 32-minute spell off the bench, but was a livewire down the right-hand side after replacing Riyad Mahrez, and his goal saw him become the third Argentine to score in the Community Shield, after former City stars Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez.
Signed for a reported £14million from River Plate in January, then loaned back to the South American giants until the end of last season, Alvarez will likely be a supporting member of the City cast in the year ahead due to competition from Mahrez, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland, though the latter endured a domestic bow to forget in Leicester.
Premier League rule changes now mean that managers can utilise five substitutes off the bench, however, which should see Alvarez earn more opportunities, and he has vowed to use his versatility to offer alternative options for Guardiola.
“Obviously, I’m very happy for scoring my first goal with City, but that stays aside because it wasn’t the result we wanted to start the season winning the trophy,” he told City TV.
“Always I try to give my best in training, I’ve shown I can play different positions at my clubs and with the national team.
“I can offer alternatives to the team with this versatility, I can offer different solutions and I want to give my best to help the team.”
City’s attention is now cast towards the start of their Premier League title defence, which begins away to West Ham on August 7, and Alvarez is confident it will be another successful campaign despite Saturday’s defeat to their rivals.
“It’s tough, obviously we didn’t want to start this way. We don’t like to lose. We need to keep working,” he added.
“It’s going to be a good season to fight for all the trophies and we need to carry on working this way.
“Liverpool have shown in the last years how good they are. They’re a great team with great players. So [are] City.
“It was a good test to start the season, we played well and played at a good level but we need to keep working to get the results.”
