Born in Argentina, made in Manchester - Man City’s special relationship with La Albiceleste

Certain football clubs from around the world have a knack of signing players from a certain country and seeing them perform despite often playing thousands of miles from their home country.

Wolverhampton Wanderers have seen many Portuguese players turn out of the Old Gold in recent seasons including the likes of Joao Moutinho, Rui Patricio and Ruben Neves while Brazilian players have long been a staple of the Galactico teams of Real Madrid, with Ronaldo Nazario, Roberto Carlos and Kaka just to name a few.

In the case of Manchester City, the special relationship lies with the South American football powerhouse of Argentina. Up to now, City have had nine Argentinian players on their books, with all nine of them arriving since 2008.

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This is soon to reach double figures though as the Premier League club announced the reported £15million signing of River Plate forward Julian Alvarez in January, with the player expected to link up with Pep Guardiola’s squad in the summer.

Alvarez is set to be City’s tenth Argentinian player in little over a decade but when and how did this special link between a South American nation and a northern English city start?

The first-ever Argentinian to turn out for Manchester City was cult hero and club legend Pablo Zabaleta. The tough-tackling defender joined the Sky Blues in 2008 from Spanish side Espanyol. Zabaleta laid the foundations for what was to be expected from an Argentinian playing at the Etihad Stadium. He was tenacious in his defending and gave everything to the club.

This was a pattern to follow with those who followed Zabaleta to City, with both Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero going on to join the club within