{"id":10925,"date":"2025-03-04T23:19:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T00:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/?p=10925"},"modified":"2025-03-05T00:35:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T00:35:15","slug":"pep-guardiola-told-he-let-future-ballon-dor-winner-leave-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/04\/pep-guardiola-told-he-let-future-ballon-dor-winner-leave-manchester-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Pep Guardiola told he let \u2018future Ballon d\u2019Or winner\u2019 leave Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pep Guardiola may already be regretting the transfer decision (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pep Guardiola<\/a> has been told he sanctioned the departure of a ‘future Ballon d’Or<\/a> winner’ from Manchester City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The likes of Cole Palmer, Morgan Rodgers, Liam Delap and Jamie Gittens have all thrived since being sold by the Premier League<\/a> champions, throwing into question Man City’s transfer strategy in recent years.<\/p>\n

But, according to former Premier League star and ex-England midfielder Joe Cole, the one player Guardiola will really regret selling is Julian Alvarez.<\/p>\n

Being offered more than \u00a380m for the Argentine proved too tempting for Man City<\/a>, especially as Alvarez was playing back-up to superstar striker Erling Haaland.<\/p>\n

But Alvarez’s impressive form for Atletico Madrid – as well as Man City’s shocking drop-off<\/a> – may have made Etihad bosses second guess the transfer decision.<\/p>\n

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Alvarez has scored 22 goals for Atletico this term, helping Diego Simeone’s side challenge for the La Liga title and progress to the latter stages of the Champions League.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old scored a stunning goal in Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 first leg against Real Madrid<\/a> to ensure his side trail by just one goal ahead of the second leg on home soil.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Real\t<\/div>
Julian Alvarez scored a brilliant goal against Real Madrid (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cole described Alvarez’s brilliant strike as ‘beautiful’ and said the Atletico forward had the potential to win the Ballon d’Or in the coming years.<\/p>\n

‘He\u2019s another lad we know very well from the Premier League,’ Cole said on TNT Sports<\/a> after the intriguing Champions League clash<\/a>.<\/p>\n

‘You won\u2019t see a better goal in the Champions League. It\u2019s beautiful, it\u2019s sensational.<\/p>\n

‘This kid has won it all and done it all and he’s still only 25. I think we see the best of him over the next five years. I think he\u2019s a Ballon d\u2019Or winner in the future.’<\/p>\n

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Alvarez joined Atletico Madrid from Man City last summer (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Atletico midfielder Conor Gallagher, formerly of Chelsea<\/a>, also heaped praise on Alvarez after the game.<\/p>\n

‘It was an unreal goal,’ he said. ‘It doesn\u2019t surprise me of course, he\u2019s playing with so much confidence.<\/p>\n

‘He\u2019s a top player and a top guy as well. He\u2019s having a great season and hopefully for us that can continue.’<\/p>\n

Alvarez, meanwhile, insisted the Champions League tie was far from over despite his side’s defeat at the Bernabeu.<\/p>\n

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Diego Simeone’s side are still alive in the Champions League (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

‘They scored their goals at the right moments,’ the ex-Man City star said. ‘At times, we had control of the match.<\/p>\n

‘We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We were [away]. There is a one-goal difference and there are [at least] 90 minutes left in front of our people at home.’<\/p>\n

His Atletico Madrid teammate Marcos Llorente added: ‘They are very fast and very good. They take advantage of any little lapses in concentration.<\/p>\n

‘It is very difficult to [concede from] a ball into space for Rodrygo, who gets inside and shoots with his weak foot.<\/p>\n

‘We must concentrate to the maximum and not let those little details [cost us] again. We need to stay together, which is what we did after that early goal.’<\/p>\n

As well as having aspirations of winning the Champions League, Atletico Madrid are currently in a three-horse race for the La Liga title<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Barcelona are currently top, one point above Atletico and three ahead of Champions League holders Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

For more stories like this,\u00a0check our sport page<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pep Guardiola may already be regretting the transfer decision (Picture: Getty) Pep Guardiola has been told he sanctioned the departure of a ‘future Ballon d’Or winner’ from Manchester City. The likes of Cole Palmer, Morgan Rodgers, Liam Delap and Jamie Gittens have all thrived since being sold by the Premier League champions, throwing into question…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10925"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10925"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10932,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10925\/revisions\/10932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}