The Argentine officially arrived at the Etihad Stadium on this day, July 9, in the summer of 2022, after seeing the second half of the previous season out on loan at former club River Plate, amid a wave of fresh arrivals in Manchester.
A relatively unknown entity in Europe upon linking up with Pep Guardiola’s squad, maybe the 22-year-old’s signing wasn’t the most eye catching on paper.
With Erling Haaland also joining the Club in the same window, competition for places would be hotly contested, too, with the prospect of moving to and playing in a new continent potentially a daunting challenge.
Alvarez, though, certainly made his presence felt before the curtain fell on the 2022/23 campaign.
After tasting Premier League football from the bench in his first three league outings, he exploded onto the scene in his first start against Nottingham Forest in late August – netting twice in the 6-0 success.
That set the tone for a fabulous goalscoring term for both Club and country in what proved to be a historic maiden season in England.
Electric pace and clinical finishing, Alvarez reflected his ability to move fans to the edge of their seat each time he received the ball in City colours.
He also proved to be a reliable option regardless of whether he started from the off or entered the pitch from the bench as the Argentine scored 17 goals in all competitions – which was only bettered by Haaland (52).
This saw him score a goal ever 149 minutes on average which was also the second highest among his teammates, again, only surpassed by the Norwegian’s staggering rate of a goal every 79 minutes.
As the season progressed, Alvarez firmly turned into a fans’ favourite – with him receiving a hero’s welcome when he returned from the 2022 World Cup with a gold medal wrapped around his neck.
In total, the striker featured in seven matches at the prestigious tournament in Qatar, scoring a tremendous four goals as La Albiceleste lifted the famous trophy.
A player who seemingly always has a smile on his face, the 22-year-old embodies the hardworking traits of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City machine, which is reflected in his unselfish work off the ball.
Among the Premier League players who predominantly played as a striker last term, only Southampton’s Joe Aribo averaged more tackles per 90-minutes than Alvarez who recorded an impressive 1.6.
As the Club relentlessly pursued the Treble, each member of the Catalan’s roster had to play a crucial individual part in aiming to claim three major honours.
Every player did this and more as we sealed a historic end to the campaign by lifting our third successive Premier League title, our seventh overall FA Cup and the maiden Champions League in our illustrious 129-year history.
En route to earning Champions of Europe status, the hardworking forward set a number of new records.
First of all, in our 3-1 victory over Sevilla in November, he became the youngest Argentinian to be directly involved in three single Champions League goals as he scored once and assisted twice at 22 years and 275 days.
This saw him surpass Lionel Messi who achieved the same feat in a European success over Bayern Munich in 2009.
And thanks to Rodrigo’s second-half drilled strike in the showpiece with Inter securing a 1-0 victory – he joined a star-studded list to win the World Cup and European Cup in the same season (only the 10th player to achieve the feat).
But, the achievements didn’t stop there as he became the first ever player to win the Treble and the World Cup in a singular season.
Regardless of his historic first season at City, the sky is the limit for La Arana.
