Gary Neville: Arsenal Needs Julian Alvarez to Win Champions League
Arsenal already look like a team that has climbed one mountain. Gary Neville thinks one more signing would put them in position to conquer Europe as well.
Fresh from a ruthless 3-0 dismantling of Coventry that followed their Community Shield win over Manchester City, the defending Premier League champions are purring early in the season. The Emirates feels settled, confident, almost assured. Neville’s verdict? They’re still one piece short.
And he has a specific name in mind.
“They’d go the next step”
Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville argued that Arsenal should throw everything at a move for Atletico Madrid forward Julian Alvarez, a player also admired by Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.
“What a squad [Mikel Arteta] has built,” Neville said. “If he puts another forward into that, if they could get Julian Alvarez somehow, that would light this place up as you'd have a world-class striker to go with all the world-class defenders and midfielders.
“They wouldn't just become Premier League title winners they'd go the next step and win a Champions League. It's a massive 10 days. He needs a bit of magic up front - someone that can win a game for you when you don't play well.”
The problem? Atletico are publicly slamming the door. CEO Miguel Angel Gil has already stated this summer that they do not want to sell Alvarez and would not even accept £170m for the Argentina international. That has not stopped Neville from urging Arsenal to test that resolve in the final days of the window.
For him, this is the moment to be bold.
Arteta’s focus vs Neville’s demand
Arteta, typically, stayed grounded after the Coventry win. In his post-match press conference, he pushed the conversation back towards the training pitch rather than the boardroom.
“The main focus has to be to improve our players and the connection between them,” he said, highlighting how little Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Ben White actually played together down the right last season because of injuries.
Arteta sees growth in combinations. Neville sees a ceiling that only a killer No 9 can smash through.
He believes Odegaard, already the team’s creative heartbeat, would become even more devastating with a striker like Alvarez in front of him.
“He [Odegaard] is exceptional. If there was an Ian Wright-type player up front for Arsenal who makes those short runs he'd be even better,” Neville said.
“As [Kai] Havertz and [Viktor] Gyokeres always come to the ball, Odegaard has to play possession rather than playing the slip passes. If Arsenal were to sign Julian Alvarez then he'd go up a level as it would be perfect for the style of play.”
Right now, Arsenal’s forwards tend to drop towards the ball. Neville wants one who runs away from it, into the space Odegaard can see before anyone else.
Carragher: World-class spark still missing
Jamie Carragher shares the basic concern. He also sees a gap in the very top tier of Arsenal’s attack, even as he backs two familiar faces to close it.
“I still think Arsenal lack a world-class player in the front four,” he said. “About two years ago I thought Saka and Odegaard would make that next step. For whatever reason it's not happened due to injuries or Arsenal not being at their best.
“Those two were close to getting to the levels shown by Man City and Liverpool players, like [Kevin] De Bruyne and [Erling] Haaland or [Mohamed] Salah and [Sadio] Mane. They took their teams to the title.
“Arsenal won the league without [Saka and Odegaard] doing it. They did it by having a great defence and goalkeeper. But I still think Saka and Odegaard can get back to where they were a couple of years ago.”
Carragher’s twist is psychological. He believes the status of being champions could unlock something inside this group that no transfer fee can buy.
“The psychological factor of being champions now will take this Arsenal team to another level rather than buying a superstar player,” he added.
Where Neville sees the need for a marquee striker, Carragher sees a dressing room ready to step through the door themselves.
Odegaard, Tzolis and a refreshed Arsenal edge
On the pitch, the early signs are that Arsenal have already sharpened their attacking edge without the blockbuster signing Neville craves.
At the Emirates, Coventry were swept aside 3-0, and Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz picked out two key figures in the rejuvenated forward line: new signing Christos Tzolis and captain Odegaard.
Tzolis, operating off the left, took a few minutes to find his bearings. Once he did, he ignited the game. Two shots and two chances created in a four-minute burst changed the tempo completely. The Coventry defence, previously comfortable, suddenly looked stretched and uncertain.
The pressure told. Tzolis was heavily involved in the two goals that killed the contest, first by winning the ball high up the pitch for one, then by delivering the cross for Saka to finish for another. He looked like a livewire, the kind of winger who drags full-backs into places they do not want to go.
On the other side of the pitch and in the half-spaces, Odegaard quietly delivered again. After a stunning display in the Community Shield, he opened his league account here, already equalling his tally from last season in which he missed 30 matches in all competitions.
This was only the second time since December 2024 that Saka, Odegaard and Havertz had started together. All three scored against Coventry. All three looked refreshed.
Odegaard, in particular, feels like a new signing without any paperwork. His movement, his touch, his timing – all back to the sharpness that once put him in that conversation with the very best in the league.
Three goals from open play, a more unpredictable left flank with Tzolis, and the champions suddenly look less methodical and more explosive.
One final leap?
Neville’s challenge hangs over all of this. Arsenal already have a title, a structure, and a squad that looks deep and balanced. They have an attack that has been tweaked and energised, not ripped up.
The question now is whether Arteta and the club hierarchy believe that internal growth – the return to form of Saka and Odegaard, the impact of Tzolis, the psychological lift of being champions – is enough to chase down the Champions League, or whether they will gamble on the kind of striker who changes the entire picture.
Atletico insist Julian Alvarez is untouchable. Neville thinks Arsenal should find out just how true that is.
