City appear to have already identified Alvarez’s replacement.

Manchester City’s first transfer target after the expected sale of Julian Alvarez has emerged – and it has taken fans by surprise.

City have reached an agreement to sell Alvarez to Atletico Madrid for a fee of £81.5 million – meaning the club will make a significant profit on the £14 million they spent to sign the forward from Racing Club over two years ago.

The 24-year-old, who won the 2024 Copa America with Argentina this summer, still needs to agree personal terms with Atletico.

But his exit from the club has long been rumoured, despite the Argentinian playing a significant role last season as City won their fourth consecutive Premier League title.

Alvarez is set to end his City career having scored 36 goals in 103 appearances in all competitions – and will now leave Pep Guardiola’s side scrambling to find a replacement before the 2024/25 season gets underway next weekend.

But according to The Telegraph, City have already identified Wolves winger Pedro Neto as his potential successor at the Etihad Stadium.

It is claimed that Neto is one of the players to have interested the club, but there is no guarantee that they will make a concrete offer at this stage.

He has also been linked with Arsenal and Liverpool this summer after scoring two goals and providing nine assists in just 20 league appearances for Wolves last season.

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The report adds that, if City decide against bringing in a player to replace Alvarez, Guardiola could integrate attacking midfielder James McAtee into the starting XI.

City have already decided against one replacement, though, with the same report adding that Atletico were prepared to include Joao Felix as part of a swap deal to sign Alvarez.

The Portugal star, however, is not included in the deal, with Atletico instead splashing out their highest fee since they paid over £100 million to sign Felix back in 2019.