{"id":529968,"date":"2026-04-14T08:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/529968\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T08:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:23:13","slug":"julian-alvarez-champions-league-could-decide-strikers-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/529968\/","title":{"rendered":"Julian Alvarez: Champions League could decide striker’s future"},"content":{"rendered":"

What Atletico manager Simeone sold him was a football project that had the striker at the centre of it. Alvarez wanted to feel wanted.<\/p>\n

“He told me I could give the club something huge,” he recalls. “That I’d have the space and the opportunity to be my best version.”<\/p>\n

The Argentines already at the club helped too – De Paul, Griezmann’s warmth, the Spanish language, a culture that felt closer to home than Paris or Manchester ever could.<\/p>\n

In August 2024, Atletico Madrid confirmed the deal<\/a> – 95m euros (\u00a381.5m), a club record received by City, and a six-year contract. The club announced it with a Spiderman video and Alvarez loved it.<\/p>\n

Ask him about the price tag and he almost looks confused by the question.<\/p>\n

“It’s more something that gets talked about in the media,” he said. “In the dressing room I’m just one of the group. I like being treated that way.” <\/p>\n

His father worked in a cereal factory in Calchin. His mother was a schoolteacher. He grew up knowing that you have to earn respect, or reputation. He is still the same person. It shows on the pitch too – the World Cup winner who sprints back to win the ball, who presses from the front. Simeone rarely singles out individuals, but with Alvarez, he makes exceptions.<\/p>\n

Across two seasons in red and white, he has made 102 appearances and scored 47 goals, numbers that tell only part of the story. <\/p>\n

His time at Atletico has not been without frustration. In La Liga this season, the numbers have been modest – eight goals in 29 appearances, and just one in 2026.<\/p>\n

His strike against Oviedo at the end of February ended a run of 14 league games without a goal, his previous one coming against Sevilla on 1 November. But the Champions League has been a different story, bringing nine goals in 12 appearances this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What Atletico manager Simeone sold him was a football project that had the striker at the centre of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-529968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}