Julian Alvarez told four-word message he should send Erling Haaland amid Man City frenzy

Julian Alvarez should probably get used to his experience of the last week at Manchester City.

He was benched in the Community Shield against Liverpool, despite playing more than Erling Haaland in pre-season, and while Haaland struggled to impose himself on the game, Alvarez came off the bench to fire City level in the second half from close range. Then, as Haaland missed a good chance at the end, all the post-match attention has centred on the Norwegian ahead of the Premier League opener at West Ham, rather than on Alvarez's very encouraging cameo.

And Haaland will likely start at West Ham, leaving Alvarez to have to shine from the bench again. However, City legend Shaun Goater feels that dynamic should motivate the new Argentinian striker rather than demoralise him.

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Speaking to MEN Sport, Goater said Alvarez can use the attention surrounding Haaland to send a simple message when he does play — 'don't forget about me'.

"He's a typical, Southern American, tidy Argentinian player," Goater said of Alvarez. "His work right, he's got a fighting spirit, die-hard, energetic, comes on, pops up scores this goal. I think it's brilliant for him because having been in a situation where everyone else is talking about another striker and you come in. I just want to remind people about myself.

"So I think that that's probably him thinking: 'don't forget about me.' No one's forgotten about him. But in his mind he'll be like, don't forget about me. So he's done brilliant to go score that goal and he'll play a huge part because again, he strikes me as one that will come to play wide, just a little bit right across the front. So his energy,