If you haven’t heard of the name ‘Julián Alvarez’ by now, I am sure 2022 will be the year when you do.
Julián Alvarez is an Argentinian attacker who has been nothing short of sensational in 2021 and has taken the Liga Profesional by storm.
The 21-year-old is in his third season at River Plate.
He has been a standout player in Argentina and South America, featuring for Los Millonarios in the Copa Libertadores and Argentina in the Copa América and World Cup qualifiers.
2022 is going to be a big year for Alvarez, with a move to Europe highly likely, and he will expectedly have his choice of clubs.
He is currently being linked with everyone from AC Milan to Real Madrid.
Alvarez will follow a long line of exciting South American prospects to come to Europe, with Lautaro Martínez providing a recent example of an exciting South American prodigy crossing continents to Europe.
The following tactical analysis and scout report will investigate Alvarez’s style of play and assess some of the key attributes that have made him the most sought-after player in South America.
Julián Alvarez Positioning
Julián Alvarez’s style of play allows him to play in multiple positions across the front line.
He has the versatility to play as a striker, off the striker, wide left or wide right.
This is illustrated brilliantly by the Argentinian heat map below, which indicates that this season, Alvarez has been extremely versatile and has featured heavily in various positions.
He has many skills and attributes, some of which we’ll touch upon in this Julián Alvarez’s scout report.
He also has a remarkable ability to score any goal, and when reviewing the goals he has scored this season, I think every type of goal is represented.
Julián Alvarez Heat Map
Julián Alvarez Data Analysis
So far this season, Álvarez has been producing some superb metrics.
In all competitions this season, Álvarez has scored 23 goals and produced 16 assists at the time of writing.
This is an impressive haul, and it is demonstrated below by comparing his output to Argentina’s other strikers and attackers.
From the graph, we can see that Álvarez has been the standout attacker, with no one else coming close to him in terms of both goals and assists.
His 23 goals are only matched or bettered by José Sand and Silvio Romero.
However, Álvarez is the league’s top scorer with 17, three goals clear of anyone else
Argentinian Strikers Goals & Assists Chart
This isn’t just a fluke, as Alvarez is standing out in terms of expected goals and expected assists, too.
Again, in this graph, you can see that no one is coming close to Alvarez in terms of the combination of the two metrics.
Argentinian Strikers xG & xA Chart
Addressing the data is essential when conducting a Julián Alvarez player analysis, as this helps to demonstrate that the impressive goalscoring is, in fact, due to good positioning and putting himself in favourable goalscoring positions.
At the same time, their remarkable assist record is largely due to his ability to create good-quality chances for his teammates.
Julián Alvarez Anticipation/ movements in the box
When you watch Julián Alvarez’s goals, you can’t help but notice how he comes alive in the box, whether this is by making darting runs or using clever positioning to anticipate the ball and strike home for River Plate.
He really does come alive in the box.
The 21-year-old can anticipate the ball and often ends up on the end of many rebounds or drops the ball.
Although some would argue this is luck or a fluke, it is more a case of clever positioning and putting himself in the right areas to anticipate and score rebounds.
This is a quality many great attackers possess, especially those who regularly find themselves in and amongst the goals.
The example below shows how Alvarez comes alive in the box and has the knack of anticipating the ball before anyone else.
One of his teammates is carrying the ball and looking to dribble into the space highlighted while Alvarez is circled in the box.
As he continues his run, Alvarez holds his position as the Racing Club defenders drop slightly, bringing him onside.
The ball carrier has several options; he could slide the ball into Alvarez or send the ball between the two defenders for Alvarez to run onto.
Despite the options to Alvarez, the River player tries playing a ball inside and sees his pass blocked, and the ball rolls into the box.
This is where the Argentinian attacker comes alive, pouncing on the ball and firing into the keeper’s right, giving River a 2-0 lead.
This isn’t just luck — the clever pocket of space he found, his awareness to make sure he is onside and the alertness to react to the ball before anyone else allows what seems a lucky goal.
Also, he takes his shot the first time and confidently powers home.
Again, these may seem simple, but the best players consistently do the basic things well.
If Alvarez has a touch here, he may get blocked.
A similar situation occurred against San Lorenzo.
River worked the ball down the right-hand side and played a cross in, but it didn’t find Alvarez, and it was played behind him.
However, he doesn’t just ball-watch and observe the play unfold; instead, he finds space for himself in the box and positions himself for a potential cross or rebound.
As the man in possession shoots, Álvarez is in acres of space and perfectly positioned for a rebound, and as the keeper makes a save, it falls right to Álvarez’s feet, and he can tap home to give River the lead.
As we mentioned in the first example, Alvarez has excellent positioning and anticipation for where the ball will fall.
By consistently putting himself in these types of positions, the ball will eventually drop to him.
This is a feature of his game whether he is playing as a striker or an inside forward/winger.
The following example shows Alvarez making clever movements within the box.
This is from the match against Boca Juniors earlier in the season, where two goals from Alvarez secured River’s win.
Los Millonarios won the ball high up the field on the right-hand side, where they have used the overlap to create a crossing situation.
You can see Alvarez in the middle, waiting to make a run across the Boca centre back towards the front post.
The Argentinian wants to attack the front post to prevent one of the Boca centre-backs from intercepting the cross.
Due to him being well positioned in between the two Boca centre-backs, the left-sided one doesn’t recognize his run until it’s too late.
This is shown below with the Boca Juniors defender looking at Alvarez as he is about to pass him on his way to attack the front post.
He manages to beat the defender to the ball and brilliantly slots past the Boca Juniors keeper.
Again, this may seem simple, but the well-executed basics — such as the initial positioning putting him between the two centre backs, the run to the front post area, which was timed perfectly and the well-placed finish to remove any chance of the keeper making a save — have allowed Alvarez to make it look so simple.
All come together to look simple but are so effective.
Julián Alvarez Attacking run and movements
Another standout aspect of Julián Alvarez’s style of play is his attacking runs, which are varied and effective, tailored to his position on the pitch.
He often uses a combination of speed and intelligence to make effective runs and create goalscoring chances for himself or his teammates.
In this example, Alvarez recovers the ball on the right-hand side as he prepares to play a ball to Fernández, who is in acres of space in midfield.
After making the pass, he will make an out-to-in run similar to the one shown in white.
As Fernández carries the ball forward, Alvarez continues his run, running in the space between the full-back and centre-back.
Alvarez knows that, as the left-back has had to come out of position to deal with him on the ball, there will be a space between the left-back and centre-back.
Fernández plays a beautiful, looped ball over the left-sided centre back in the space for Alvarez to attack.
Alvarez meets the ball before taking a first-time finish and putting the ball beyond the Platense keeper.
The ball from Fernández is brilliant, as is the run and timing from Alvarez, yet again.
The 21-year-old has an excellent knack for identifying and exploiting space.
I could give a wide array of examples of him doing so, but the next one shows his intelligence and clever positioning.
Alvarez is in the pocket of space between the lines as highlighted, this gives him several options.
He can receive the ball in the space or be ready to exploit any space that is created.
As the ball is played to the River player between the lines, the San Lorenzo left-sided centre back pushes up to engage him, and this creates space for Alvarez to move into and exploit.
As the space opens up, Alvarez is already making the run into it and looking to exploit the space.
The River player on the ball finds him in space.
Alvarez arrives at the ball and takes a first-time shot, which manages to evade the keeper to his bottom left.
The intelligence to manipulate space and weaknesses within the backline is evident throughout the scout report and is one of the strongest attributes of his game.
Julián Alvarez Pressing / High turnovers
The Argentinian is an effective presser out of possession.
Even when looking at Alvarez’s goals, you notice he has the habit of creating goals and chances for himself by closing down defenders and goalkeepers.
This is supported by his 3.69 recoveries in the opposition half per 90, which is a substantial number for an attacker.
This shows that Alvarez has the ability to win the ball in the opposition half.
The first example of this occurs against Patronato, where the opposition player sends a ball back to their goalkeeper, triggering a press from Alvarez, as shown below.
Alvarez is quick in addition to being a persistent runner.
Here, the 21-year-old ensures he arcs his run to cut off the inside passing lane for the keeper, forcing him to use his left foot and also minimising the passing options.
After a poor touch from the keeper, Alvarez nicks the ball off him and slots home from the angle.
Here is another example of Alvarez pressing and harassing opposing defenders and how it has led to goals and assists for himself.
Here, against Central Córdoba, you can see Alvarez pressing the right-sided centre-back.
He will force the centre-back to go forward, forcing the defender to make too many touches.
Alvarez continues to harass the defender, and after a slightly wayward touch, he turns the ball over.
As he takes a heavy touch, he cleverly steps across him and uses his body to keep the ball away from the Córdoba defender.
After recovering the ball, Alvarez manages to play the ball to Carrascal, who manages to slot home and give River Plate the lead.
Conclusion
Julián Álvarez is a highly talented footballer who possesses a complete set of skills and attributes, particularly for someone so young.
I am sure we will start to see these for one of Europe’s biggest clubs in 2022.
The 21-year-old is versatile and can impact games wherever he plays across the front line.
His physical abilities are strong, but what makes Alvarez so unique is his intelligence.
Hopefully, through this Julián Alvarez’s scout report, his footballing intellect has become apparent, and in nearly every example shown, he has demonstrated exceptional footballing intelligence.
Alvarez’s style of play should translate well to the European leagues, where he will face much fiercer competition — which may require some adapting to — but given time, the Argentinian has everything needed to excel.
