Julian Alvarez’s first goals for Manchester City could be a metaphor for his career with the club. The Argentine made his third appearance for the club off the bench at home to Nottingham Forest with City already coasting, and he duly completed the rout with two ruthless finishes, turning a 4-0 win into a 6-0 hammering.
It was a highly efficient cameo display and a moment to savour for the player, who had only recently crossed the Atlantic to play in Europe for the first time. Someone else dominated the headlines that night though.
Erling Haaland had scored a hat-trick inside 38 minutes, notching his second treble in four games for the Cityzens. From then on it was abundantly clear that whatever Alvarez would do in a City shirt, he would forever be in Haaland’s shadow.
So it was pretty inevitable that at some point the forward, who is a regular starter for Argentina, a World Cup and double Copa America winner, would want to take centre stage at some point. He has now got the leading role he craved by signing for Atletico Madrid, where he will be the heir to Antoine Griezman.
Alvarez has been seeking a move away from City for some time, running into a familiar problem that South Americans face when moving to Manchester. He and his family will love living in Spain, home of the largest Argentine diaspora in the world.
City, meanwhile, will pocket a potential fee of £82 million($104m) and can celebrate their biggest sale of all time after what is yet another stunning piece of business from sporting director Txiki Begiristain and his team. The club can now look forward to spending the money on rearming Pep Guardiola for another assault on the Premier League title...