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River Plate boss Marcelo Gallardo has sent a plea to Pep Guardiola to allow Julian Alvarez to postpone his arrival at Manchester City after the striker’s six-goal salvo in the Copa Libertadores.

Avarez, who walked away with two match balls as his team thrashed Alianza Lima 8-1 in their final group game, is scheduled to join the Premier League champions in July. City paid £14million for the 22-year-old in January and agreed to allow him to remain with River Plate for a further 12 months.

But Guardiola wants to pair Alvarez with £51million Erling Haaland next season - and City will pay a further £1.3million to terminate the loan-back agreement early. Gallardo would love Alvarez to lead his attack in the knock-out stages of South America’s version of the Champions League.

But it seems the 22-year-old will be heading to Manchester after the second leg of the club’s last-16 tie in the first week of July. Gallardo said: “It is difficult to keep Alvarez because City have made a great investment for a diamond.

“Argentina is a country that exports football players, but replacing Julian is not going to be easy. It is very possible he will play in the next round of the Libertadores and then go to Manchester City.

“But if they want to give us the player until the end