Manchester City have signed Argentinian starlet Claudio Echeverri on a four-and-a-half-year deal from River Plate for £12.5m
Who is Echeverri?
Echeverri was a River Plate youth player who climbed the ranks into the first team. The 18-year-old plays as an attacking midfielder; usually on the left wing.
Echeverri caught Manchester City’s eye during the u17 World Cup in November. Echeverri scored five goals for Argentina in the tournament; three of those coming against Brazil in the quarter-final. Argentina finished fourth in the tournament. Echeverri was the captain throughout the competition.
Echeverri is now deemed as the ‘new Messi’ after his exceptional World Cup performance.
Echeverri is currently on international duty with the under-23s in South American Olympic qualifying.
When will Echeverri make his debut?
Echeverri has signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with City. Manchester City have loaned Echeverri back to River Plate for a year.
They clearly want him to gain more experience before playing in the Premier League. Echeverri only has six senior appearances for River Plate, but they’ll be more to come now he’s a Manchester City player.
Manchester City have a good relationship with River Plate. They took Julian Alvarez off their hands in 2022. That deal paid off for them as Alvarez has scored 30 goals and added 15 assists in 79 appearances so far.
Manchester City have tough competition from Chelsea and Barcelona to sign Echeverri but they managed to get the job done. This deal has shocked Barcelona fans based on what Echeverri said about the club: “As well as River, I would like to play for Barca.
“I’m a big fan of Messi and I used to watch him play for Barcelona, so I’ve had this team inside me since I was very young.”
Manchester City fans will have to wait until 2025 to see if he really is the ‘new Messi.’
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