Paul Merson names 'special' Man City star after flying start to season

Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson believes Julian Alvarez is rightfully earning the plaudits for Manchester City after Erling Haaland's dominance since arriving.

Alvarez arrived at the Etihad at the same time as the Norwegian talisman and floated under the radar last season as Haaland stole the back page headlines. However, the Argentine enjoyed a brilliant campaign individually as he won the World Cup on top of the Treble and earned himself a new contract in the process.

With City suffering injuries to creative players, Alvarez has been given a run of matches in the team and has earned praise from Pep Guardiola for his vital role in creating chances as well as taking them. Discussing his form ahead of this weekend's visit from Nottingham Forest, Merson is pleased to see the 23-year-old performing for the Blues.

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He told Sportskeeda: "Erling Haaland has been City's leading man since arriving at the club last season, but I'm a big fan of Julian Alvarez - he's a special player. He can play as a No. 10 or up front and is blessed with the ability to score goals and create, as we saw in the Champions League in midweek.

"He's playing pretty much every week this season - long may it continue."

The Champions League performance which Merson was raving about came against Crvena Zvezda on Tuesday night. Alvarez scored a brace as City came from behind to beat their Serbian opponents 3-1. So far this campaign, the forward has scored four goals and notched four assists in eight matches in all competitions.

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