Breaking into Peñarol’s first-team a year ago, Agustín Álvarez Martínez followed in Facundo Pellistri’s footsteps as making the step up to professional football.
The young Uruguayan grew up with the now Manchester United player, who was sent to Alaves in Spain on loan, with the two being great friends during their time with the Uruguayan side.
With five goals in 11 appearances so far this season at the age of 19, Martínez, who is more commonly known as El Canario or Canario Álvarez, is making a few headlines, which is why he was interviewed by El Observador.
The outlet, among their many questions, couldn’t help themselves from asking about Canario’s relationship with Facundo Pellestri, who was the jewel of Peñarol prior to his move to Old Trafford.
“We have spoke several times before he left for Alavés, when he was in Manchester. We have had contact with what that club was like, and I’m happy he has gone to Alavés to add minutes, because surely he’ll do well. We also talked about the coronavirus since he had it a little before me. So we competed how he reacted to the disease and how I did.”
Joining in a £7m or so deal from Peñarol back in October, Pellistri never made an appearance under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before his move to Spain, where he has featured just four times so far, with the last two appearances coming from being in starting XI.
Given time to adapt, it appears the Manchester United loanee is slowly breaking into the La Liga side, and it will be interesting for everyone, Canario included, to see how he fares in the coming months.
