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The most effective Atlético Madrid groups of the previous 20 years all had a fantastic No. 9. Consider Luis Suárez, scoring 21 league objectives to fireside Atlético to the title in 2021, fueled by a burning want to show Barcelona fallacious for letting him go. Consider prime Diego Costa, a centre-forward battering ram who scored 27 instances in coach Diego Simeone’s first title-winning aspect in 2014.
Earlier than that was Radamel Falcao, the finisher’s finisher who notched 34 objectives in all competitions as Atlético received the 2013 Copa del Rey. Atlético’s final leaguewide Pichichi (prime scorer) was Diego Forlán, with 32 objectives in 2008-09. Earlier than him, a teenage Fernando Torres broke into the primary staff and made himself an icon, ending as Atlético’s prime scorer for 5 consecutive seasons.
It is a record that reads like a who’s-who of the twenty first century’s greatest centre forwards. Costa, Falcao and Forlán, particularly, spent arguably their peak years delivering in an Atlético Madrid shirt. However for each success, there’s been an equally high-profile failure, gamers who arrived with nice expectations and a price ticket to match, however could not adapt to Simeone’s calls for.
Jackson Martínez was rated considered one of Europe’s greatest forwards when he arrived from Porto for a €35 million charge in July 2015. Six months and three objectives later, he was gone, heading to Guangzhou Evergrande within the Chinese language Tremendous League. Costa’s return from Chelsea in January 2018 — for an enormous €66m charge — was a catastrophe. After 12 league objectives in three years, his contract was terminated six months early “for private causes.”
There are others — Nikola Kalinic, Luciano Vietto, Raúl Jiménez — who did not persuade. For the previous two seasons, Atlético’s prime scorer in LaLiga was Antoine Griezmann — a unprecedented participant, however no purpose machine. A 12 months earlier as reigning league champions, their prime scorer was Ángel Correa, with 12. After which there was Álvaro Morata, who said this summer on social media that he “could not think about what it could really feel prefer to win [a trophy] on this shirt, and I will not cease till I do it,” earlier than promptly leaving for AC Milan.
Becoming a member of from Manchester City for €75m on Aug. 12, 2024, Álvarez is Atlético’s second costliest signing ever. He was the headline arrival in a summer time rebuild that additionally included Alexander Sørloth, Robin Le Normand, and Conor Gallagher. The excitement amongst followers was speedy. The newspaper El País called Álvarez “the brand new figurehead of their venture.”
This felt completely different: it is the membership’s most fun signing in years, definitely since João Félix‘s €126 million arrival in 2019, and perhaps past that. Álvarez is a World Cup winner. He is a longtime ahead becoming a member of from an elite membership, aged 24, together with his greatest years forward of him. If that weren’t sufficient, he idolized Simeone and adopted Atlético as a boy. And now, he is an Atlético Madrid participant, set to play his first Madrid derby this Sunday. (Stream LIVE: Sunday, 2:50 p.m. ET, ESPN+)
“From the primary second, all people has handled me very well,” Álvarez informed ESPN this week. “The workers, the coaches, my teammates … There’s individuals I do know [Rodrigo de Paul, Nahuel Molina and Correa, from the Argentina national team], my mates, and having shared so many moments collectively, successful trophies, that makes our connection even stronger. Coming right here, arriving at a spot the place you understand individuals, makes the whole lot a lot simpler.”
It wasn’t an apparent transfer. Álvarez solely joined Metropolis in 2022, arriving from River Plate. He was a Premier League common final season, that includes in 36 video games (31 begins) and scoring 11 objectives. In two seasons in Manchester he received two Premier League titles, and the 2023 Champions League. Leaving Pep Guardiola’s staff, and the prospect of numerous extra trophies, cannot have been simple.
“It was a whole lot of issues,” Álvarez informed ESPN. “It was a choice I needed to make. I considered it, alone. After that, clearly I spoke to these closest to me, my household, my girlfriend, mates. After which I talked with a few of the lads [at Atlético], who I already knew.
“[They said] I ought to come, that I might really feel comfy, that the membership was nice. They stated I needed to expertise it from the within to know what ‘Atlético de Madrid’ means. I talked lots with Antoine [Griezmann]. He informed me the followers had been nice, that I used to be going to fall in love.”
Griezmann is the best-case state of affairs, an instance of a inventive, aptitude participant who has excelled beneath Simeone and grow to be a membership legend, displaying the mandatory traits — humility, self-sacrifice and suppleness — to thrive. Álvarez will want him as a task mannequin; in spite of everything, the brand new arrival’s contribution has been underwhelming thus far this season.
Forward of Thursday night time’s recreation at Celta Vigo (stream LIVE: 2:50 p.m. ET, ESPN+), Álvarez has scored one purpose in 327 minutes in LaLiga, unfold throughout six video games. Whereas essential for Álvarez, it wasn’t decisive: the late third in Atlético’s 3-0 win over Valencia on Sept. 15. In any other case, he has created two probabilities and supplied no assists. A headline within the newspaper Diario AS this week informed the story: “Ready for Julián.”
Simeone, in the meantime, has referred to as for persistence together with his newest protégé. “He is lad. He is hard-working,” the coach stated this month. “He has a whole lot of essential issues to provide us. His holidays had been brief [in the summer], with the doubts over whether or not he’d keep at Metropolis or come right here. He arrived right here and performed with out a lot coaching. He went away with Argentina [during the international break] after which got here again.
“It is not simple. Now we have to assist him. We want him at his greatest. We’ll demand that of him, we all know what he can provide us. Let’s hope his purpose the opposite day was the primary of many.”
Álvarez is conscious that the circumstances of his arrival weren’t perfect, in a summer time of highs — successful the 2024 Copa America within the United States — and lows, being eradicated within the quarterfinals of the Olympic soccer match in Paris.
“I had the Copa America, then I performed within the Olympics,” Álvarez informed ESPN. “There got here a second after I was considering that I wanted a change in my profession, a brand new problem, and this [Atlético] was the most suitable choice… I wish to attempt to discover my greatest model as a footballer, and after the talks I had with Cholo [Simeone], he backed up what I felt.
“I do not know if I used to be lacking one thing. I used to be at all times OK at [City]. They handled me very properly within the two years I used to be there. We received issues, I had nice moments. However I needed one thing completely different.”
At Metropolis, Álvarez was by no means going to be the beginning centre-forward. That is Erling Haaland. With Atlético, the scale of his switch charge, and his standing within the recreation, suggests he must be the primary man in assault. However will he be? Álvarez did not get the Atlético No. 9 shirt this summer time. That went to Alexander Sørloth, a extra typical goal man, signed after his eye-catching 23 league objectives for Villarreal final season.
A have a look at Álvarez’s contributions means that Simeone remains to be trying to find the participant’s greatest function within the staff, whether or not as a lone ahead, a part of a entrance two, or becoming a member of the assault from a deeper, wider place to begin. A warmth map of his touches in LaLiga this season reveals Álvarez has been all around the pitch: up entrance, left and proper, and dropping deep.
In opposition to Girona on Aug. 25, Álvarez began at centre-forward, with Griezmann and Samuel Lino behind him. Three days later, towards Espanyol, he began in a entrance two with Sørloth and was rapidly withdrawn by Simeone at halftime, with the rating tied at 0-0. Later that week, towards Athletic Club, he was partnered by Griezmann, and substituted for Sørloth on 70 minutes, with the staff chasing a purpose. And final Sunday towards Rayo Vallecano, he began in a entrance two, earlier than switching to the left flank.
In his postmatch information convention, Simeone was even compelled to disclaim that he’d deployed Álvarez at wing-back.
“I preferred Julián on the left. He made a giant effort, working exhausting there,” Simeone stated. “Julián did not play at wing-back. You must watch the sport extra. He performed as a fourth midfielder, on the left, in a 4-4-2. His contact was a bit heavy as we speak, however his second half was higher.”
It is an inconsistent image, one which’s reflective of Atlético’s begin to the season. Álvarez hasn’t carried out, however with the staff unconvincing — they’ve three wins and three attracts in six video games, dropping too many factors for would-be title contenders — he additionally hasn’t been given the precise platform to take action.
“[Simeone] is demanding,” Álvarez informed ESPN this week. “He tries to make you discover the very best model of your self. That is what you need, to develop, to study, and I am at all times open to that. … The best way he experiences soccer, the fervour with which he sees it, what he transmits, not simply Cholo however the entire staff, was one thing that caught my consideration.”
Sunday’s derby with Real Madrid on the Metropolitano was alleged to be a chance for LaLiga’s two big-name summer time signings, Álvarez and Kylian Mbappé, to go head-to-head. However Mbappé was injured on Tuesday, anticipated to overlook three weeks with a thigh drawback, and there is not any assure that Álvarez will begin, both.
Maybe the Argentine ahead can take comfort from Griezmann’s gradual begin, when he joined Atlético for the primary time, in 2014. Griezmann did not rating in his first 9 video games for Atlético in LaLiga. A decade later, he is the membership’s all-time main scorer, with 184 objectives in all competitions.
“I am fairly calm,” Álvarez informed ESPN this week, when requested if he felt any nervousness round scoring. “I believe that if the work would not repay the following day, it should repay over time. I do not drive myself loopy. Sure, as a ahead you wish to rating, and much more so if it is what excites the followers. However I believe a very powerful factor is to assist the staff in different methods. Clearly as a ahead you wish to rating objectives… I do know they will come. You go on streaks, too. The crazier you get, the more serious it’s. So you need to chill out.”
Within the warmth of a Madrid derby, that is simpler stated than carried out. However Álvarez has skilled environments like this earlier than. He scored for River in two ‘Superclásicos’ with Boca Juniors, and for Metropolis in high-stakes Premier League video games towards Liverpool and Chelsea. He is aware of what it is like to attain towards Actual Madrid, too, including the fourth in Metropolis’s 4-0 Champions League semifinal win in Might 2023.
A purpose on Sunday would assist persuade Atlético’s followers that they had been proper to imagine Álvarez could possibly be the membership’s subsequent nice centreforward, and never one other misstep.
