Julian Alvarez: Atletico Madrid striker’s fine form has left Manchester City regretting sale

While Alvarez’s numbers are nowhere near Palmer’s 57 goal involvements in 62 games since joining Chelsea, he has started to make a big impact.

His 12 goals and two assists in 24 appearances have helped Atletico to third in La Liga, just three points off leaders Barcelona, and 11th in the Champions League standings.

City, on the other hand, have won just once in their last 10 games as key players such as Phil Foden, Kevin de Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku have struggled for fitness and form.

Erling Haaland has managed to score just four times in this period, although he has 18 in all competitions this term, but the club’s next top scorer is on three goals and that is six players.

Alvarez’s tally of four in the Champions League also continues his incredible record in the competition.

Team-mate Griezmann said: “Julian is an outstanding player. It’s a joy and a source of pride to have him with us. Hopefully we can keep helping him and enjoy having him around.”

Alvarez has been directly involved in 12 goals in as many Champions League starts – scoring nine and assisting three.

To put that into perspective, it took compatriot Lionel Messi 24 appearances to reach 12 goals in the same competition.

That means of players to have played 1,000+ minutes in the competitions history – only Haaland, with 78, has a better minutes per goal or assist ratio than Alvarez’s 98.