Aston Villa held talks with Argentina striker Julian Alvarez before he sealed his move to champions Manchester City.
The Athletic report that when Alvarez was a River Plate player, Villa were in contact but he opted for a move to the Etihad Stadium.
Villa are ambitious and have moved swiftly in the transfer market already this summer, which is in keeping with their approach to recent windows.
Alvarez will link up with Pep Guardiola’s squad next season, adding firepower to his title-winning side along with fellow new-boy Erling Haaland.
Villa held talks with Julian Alvarez
Usually, when a side lower down the table is trying to get a player who is also of interest to a Champions League side, they can offer greater gametime.
But Villa do already have Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings in attack, so it is not as if Steven Gerrard could guarantee the Argentine a spot at the forefront of his attack.
Alvarez may yet go on to be on a different level to that duo, and Guardiola’s coaching could play a part in that but he is not there yet.
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Getting him in would have been yet another huge sign of ambition, but Villa fans will only get to see Alvarez’s progress from afar next season and beyond.
How good is Alvarez?
The above photo of Alvarez was taken after he scored six goals in River’s Copa Libertadores match with Alianza Lima at last month.
That gives a good impression and former City defender Pablo Zabaleta is also a fan, recently saying: “If Pep trusts him next season, he could have a sensational player on his hands.
“Julian has the quality to be a striker for City. We have to see how Guardiola uses him.”
That indicates he would have been a good coup for Villa but he will join City’s squad of megastars now.