Man City set huge price tag for wantaway star

Manchester City continue their pre-season preparations with a game against Italian giants AC Milan on Saturday. 

The Premier League champions suffered a shock defeat against Scottish side Celtic last time out, with the Premiership champions running out 4-3 winners.

Manager Pep Guardiola will expect to see improvement from his side when they face Milan, although the game could give the Spaniard the opportunity to experiment with his squad.

In the meantime, City are said to have slapped a huge price tag on one of their attackers.

As per The Athletic, the Citizens will demand a fee of £77 million to allow forward Julian Alvarez to leave the club this summer.

The report claims that the Argentine, who is currently representing his country at the Olympic Games in Paris, is intent on leaving The Etihad this summer.

Alvarez scored 19 goals in 54 games for City last term

City are reluctant to lose the 24-year-old during the current window, and will therefore only accept an offer that consists of an initial £60 million, plus a further £17 million in add-ons.

Alvarez joined City from River Plate in 2022 and has since made 103 appearances for the Manchester club across all competitions, scoring 36 goals and providing 18 assists.

Last season the Argentine scored 19 goals in 54 games, as well as registering 13 assists.

He has failed to ever establish himself as a guaranteed starter in Guardiola’s side, though, with Norwegian Erling Haaland almost undroppable for the Spaniard.

Alvarez is contracted to City until the end of the 2027/28 campaign, but the report suggests that the player himself is keen to depart the club in search of more regular game time.

Over the course of his time in England, Alvarez has been used as both a striker and an attacking midfielder, but he has failed to secure himself as Guardiola’s first choice in either role.