Julian Alvarez can unlock new £65m partnership to take Man City to the next level

It's no wonder Julian Alvarez's manager has resorted to begging Manchester City to keep Julian Alvarez on loan until December.

After Alvarez's incredible six-goal return for River Plate on Wednesday, Marcelo Gallardo had his tongue firmly in cheek when he said: “If City want to loan us the player until the end of the year, we have no problem and we will be very grateful! But Guardiola won’t listen to my request. We would be very grateful if you can leave us Julián until the end of the year!"

This week, chief executive Ferran Soriano has added to the stance of Txiki Begiristain and Pep Guardiola to insist that Alvarez will be a City player in the summer, and that the club are already rejecting loan enquiries for him. It seems City are preparing to go from no strikers to two next season.

ALSO READ:'Guardiola won't listen to me!' - River Plate boss has cheeky request to Man City as Julian Alvarez scores SIX

In fairness, City are getting exactly what they will have wanted from Alvarez's loan spell back at River after his £14.1m January signing. He's playing regularly, averaging a goal or assist every 79 minutes, and has scored his first goal for Argentina.

More than that, the 14 goals he's scoring have all shown qualities City have lacked since Sergio Aguero left. There are plenty of strikes from on-the-shoulder runs followed by emphatic finishes, there are long-range strikes, and there are opportunistic goals alongside instictive poacher's finishes.

Look at his record-breaking six goals on Wednesday. The first came after a good run and smart finish, the second was a reactive finish to convert a cross, and the third was a 25-yard arrow to the bottom corner. He forced the goalkeeper into a mistake for his fourth, lifted a