WhenAtlético Madrid committed£82m in the summer of 2024 to sign Julián Alvarez fromManchester City, there was a collective raising of eyebrows across Europe.
At the Etihad, Alvarez had been seen, somewhat reductively, asErling Haaland’s backup.
He was viewed as a high-functioning deputy whose minutes were contingent on the Norwegian’s availability, but was also tactically malleable tocoexist with him.
The consensus at the time saw City as the winners and Atlético as indulgent spenders who paid a premium for a player whose potential was yet to be recognised.
Now, 12 months on, that narrative looks different.
Alvarez has evolved from an expensive rotation piece to the central protagonist inDiego Simeone’s team.
He has combined the industriousness that endeared him toPep Guardiola with a sharper, more autonomous final third profile.
He has six goals and one assist in his first eightLa Liga matches, and he has begun the campaign as one of the league’s most in-form forwards, if not one of the most complete strikers in Europe on current evidence.
This analysis will examine Alvarez’s technical and tactical strengths and the ways in which he has been assimilated into Diego Simeone’s new attacking look.
Diego Simeone, the stereotype, & Julián Alvarez Start At Atlético
Before turning fully to Julián Alvarez, it is worth pausing on Diego Simeone’s reputation.
Simeone is familiar to anyone who has followed La Liga over the past decade.
His management style is all about passion, grit and capacity to suffer.
The attack tends to be treated as an afterthought.
The record with centre-forwards/attacking players has fed that stereotype.
There have been successes, with Radamel Falcao’s ruthlessness and Antoine Griezmann’s evolution into an elite scorer standing out, but there are costly misfires.
From Jackson Martínez to Matheus Cunha, and the most contentious case of all in João Félix, a club record arrival who never quite understood what it meant to be a Simeone player.
Alvarez’s first campaign in Madrid has begun to recalibrate that perspective.
Indeed, 37 goal involvements in all competitions is productive, but the deeper value lies in how he stitches together attacking phases.
He blends elements that once made Atlético No 9s so dangerous.
There is the penalty box movement of Falcao, the associative play and pressing intelligence reminiscent of peak Griezmann, and a willingness to graft that aligns with Simeone’s non-negotiables.
This pizza chart compares Alvarez to centre forwards in his league.
The standout is his possession profile, where he sits well above peers for passes per 90, accurate passes, progressive and dangerous passes, and received passes.
He also scores strongly in attacking outputs like expected goal contribution and shots.
Julián Alvarez Pizza Chart 2024/2025
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Alvarez has added goals and helped the team stay organised.
He also shows that Simeone’s attack is more planned and purposeful than people usually think.
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