'Alvarez has shown what an excellent footballer he is'

Julian Alvarez has shown "what an excellent footballer he is" with his performances so far this season for Manchester City, according to Chris Sutton.

The World Cup winner has played all seven games for City up to now, scoring four goals.

After Tuesday's brace against Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League, Sutton told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I thought when he first signed for Manchester City, I hadn’t seen a lot of him but I thought he was going to come and try and play in between the centre-halves and play high up, but he has shown his versatility and what an excellent footballer he is.

"It was Haaland who played highest up and he dropped in that number 10 role and took up some really intelligent positions. He is so good on the half-turn. He made forward runs at times as well and it’s ominous.

"What we have learned from Pep Guardiola’s teams over the years is that he sort of re-invents them every season, players come in and find a way and hit the ground running and Alvarez has done that this season.

"It looks at this moment in time like Haaland and Alvarez are Pep’s preferred option."

Hear more reaction to Tuesday's Champions League action on the Football Daily podcast on BBC Sounds