Football has a way of shaping a player’s whole career with simple twists of fate. Manchester City ’s latest signing Julian Alvarez - still awaiting the finishing touches to a reported £17.9million deal - made his big breakthrough when three senior River Plate strikers were all injured at the same time.
He stepped in, as an 18-year-old, started scoring, and has not looked back since. He earned another cap for Argentina last night, and the intimidatory treatment dished out by Chile players as he simply trotted onto the field spoke volumes about how much of a threat he is.
The game is littered with players who got their break via others’ misfortunes. Liam Delap might have been forgiven for thinking that his big opportunity was opening up last summer until the cold fickleness of the football fates slapped him in the face.
The 18-year-old — he turns 19 next week — ended last season with a new Premier League 2 goalscoring record in his pocket, his senior debut under his belt, and with his Premier League debut and first senior goal, a spectacular strike against Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup, also filed away in the memory banks.
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