BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - NOVEMBER 10: Claudio Echeverri of River Plate gestures during a Liga Profesional 2024 match between River Plate and Barracas Central at Estadio Mas Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti on November 10, 2024 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo by Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images)
Manchester City are set to bring Claudio Echeverri straight into their senior squad when he arrives in January
Manchester City could unleash the teenager dubbed the next Lionel Messi on the Premier League in the New Year.
City were planning to send Argentine ace Claudio Echeverri on loan to Spanish sister club Girona when he finally arrives from River Plate in January. But the fitness problems faced by Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish this season have promoted the Premier League champions into a rethink.
That means Echeverri could be introduced into Pep Guardiola’s squad immediately as the City boss looks to add some spark to a squad that has been misfiring in recent weeks. Echeverri, who celebrates his 19th birthday on January 2, is an attacking midfielder who has been compared to Barcelona legend Messi in his homeland.
A right-footed attacking midfielder who sealed a £13.5million deal to join City in the last winter window, the youngster captained Argentina in the Under-17s World Cup and has been tipped to become a star.
[
Pep Guardiola warns Man City solution will not happen "for a long time"](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/pep-guardiola-man-city-solution-34274398)
Echeverri has been allowed to continue his development at River Plate this year. And the Buenos Aires giants recently had a request to keep him until after next summer’s Club World Cup in the United States knocked back by Etihad bosses.
City initially felt loaning him to Girona would help Echeverri settle in Europe and the La Liga side playing in the Champions League. But the Catalan club are facing a struggle to qualify for the knock-out stages of the tournament.
And De Bruyne, Foden and Grealish have all spent significant spells on the sidelines this season as City have struggled to find a creative spark. Echeverri’s nickname in South America is El Diablito - the Little Devil - and the belief at the Etihad is that he can create some mischief in a Sky Blue shirt after the turn of the year.
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Kevin de Bruyne's struggles has seen City move up their timeline for Echeverri
Boss Guardiola has admitted City face a 'long road back' after Saturday's damaging draw with Crystal Palace. City are now eight points adrift of leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand, though Guardiola is backing his players to turn their form around.
“You know the solution, give me my players back and we will do it,” he said. “But it's not possible right now and I don’t think it is going to happen for a long time. Everyone is working incredible this season, like I have never seen before.
“But the reality is that we have few players to rotate in this type of period. When we arrived in the last stages for the treble season or domestic quadruple it was because everybody was there and everybody was involved.
“It's life. Sometimes it happens, you have to accept it, and this is the challenge. What I said to the players is, ‘Don't feel sorry, please, accept the challenge.’
"It will be more difficult but that's what it is and maybe at the end we'll have more satisfaction in the way we are going to behave with these problems than maybe in the other seasons that we won the title.”
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