In Argentina, Claudio Echeverri is seen as the future of national football, just like Franco Mastantuono and Thiago Almada. Unlike his two friends, he has never been selected for the Albiceleste and his dream of playing in the 2026 World Cup has been fading for several weeks. Recruited by Manchester City in January 2024 for €18.5 million then left on loan for a year at River Plate, the attacking midfielder barely had time to settle down with the Citizens before he already had to leave.
The plan was to take advantage of the off-season to gauge him and analyze whether he was capable of playing in the first team, or whether it would be preferable for him to become accustomed to European football during a new loan. Pep Guardiola even gave him his chance for 45 minutes at the Club World Cup where his magnificent free kick scored against Al-Ain showed the extent of his talent. But the Sky Blues squad is expanded and the English club saw fit to loan the young Argentinian (19 years old) to Bayer Leverkusen, who were looking for a successor to Florian Wirtz.
6 ends of matches in two months
On paper, the idea worked well. On paper only because after more than two months after the officialization of his arrival in Germany, El Diablito didn’t have much opportunity to shine. He only played 6 ends of matches in all competitions (3 in the league and 3 in the Champions League, 1 assist) for only 127 minutes spent on the pitch. The departure of Erik ten Hag, replaced by the Dane Kasper Hjulmand, did not really change the situation for him, the fault of a team in search of consistency.
“The first team must gain defensive stability to be able to play dominant footballargued Simon Rolfes, the sports director of B04 two weeks ago to explain the complex situation around Echeverri. When we achieve this, it will benefit Claudio and the other attacking players“. To regain some confidence and playing time, the attacking midfielder tried to convince his club to let him go to the U20 World Cup, a sort of win-win bet that management did not want to risk.
Manchester City plans to recall him for re-loan
She preferred to leave it at the disposal of her coach so that he can integrate her playing principles.Echeverri’s problem is that it is not yet possible to play precisely the way Kasper Hjulmand wantscontinued Rolfes. Currently the coach is giving his confidence to tactically reliable players like Jonas Hofmann“. This situation does not please the player of course, any more than Manchester City, who are starting to take a dim view of this according to the latest information published in Argentina.
According to Oléthe English club plans to recall Claudio Echeverri from his loan if the latter does not play on average 45 minutes of the remaining matches at Bayern by the end of 2025. Suffice to say that we are currently very far from this bar. The native of Resistencia remained on the bench during the last 4 Bundesliga matches. The Cityzens’ idea would be to lend it elsewhere, preferably in Europe, from January. But in Argentina, we are already starting to dream of a return to River Plate, as announced by several Argentine media. The player himself made it his number one choice.
