Claudio Echeverri celebrates with his Manchester City team mates including Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland at the 2025 Club World Cup | PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Imagesplaceholder image
Claudio Echeverri celebrates with his Manchester City team mates including Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland at the 2025 Club World Cup | PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images | AFP via Getty Images
The Argentina has been struggling for game time at Bayer Leverkusen
Right now they’re not even on pace to outscore last season’s Ipswich Town tally in the top flight, let alone their own number of goals scored from 2022/23 that got them relegated. Finishing is a particularly pressing problem, with Leeds’ forwards combining for four goals less than expected so far in the top flight - equivalent to missing five penalties.
But equally well-documented has been The Whites’ inability to create opportunities away from set-pieces, with relegation rivals Burnley having scored twice as many goals from open play as Leeds. So it’s no surprise to see them linked to a plethora of attacking arrivals in the January transfer window, including permanent deals for Daizen Maeda and Troy Parrott.
Such a move would be complicated though especially with relegation clauses, so a temporary move may be more appropriate, and with Manchester City loanee Claudio Echeverri struggling for time at Bayer Leverkusen, the Argentine could be the antidote to Leeds’ struggles.
A lucky break for Leeds
Pep Guardiola’s players gave him reason enough to be disconsolate about in their limp Champions League defeat at home to Bayer Leverkusen, as The Citizens were consummately outplayed by the Bundesliga side and players handed a rare opportunity to shine from kick off including Omar Marmoush, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rico Lewis, Abdukodir Khusanov and James Trafford failed to fire.
But a player on the visiting bench who didn’t even take to the field gave Guardiola further headaches as Claudio Echeverri failed to add to his 240 minutes from a possible 1,530 (excluding injuries) this season.
“It is a question for his beautiful agent,” Guardiola had said ahead of the game, via the Manchester Evening News. "Always would love that players play a lot of minutes, the intention is always there, we have an incredible appreciation about him as a football player. I am sure pretty sure his agent will know everything."
But no one involved with the £12.5m player will be pleased with the way his season’s going, and despite Guardiola’s coyness it’d be a great surprise if he isn’t on the move in the winter. Leeds could be the perfect destination as The Whites will be desperate to add some more bite to their attack in the January transfer window.
Leeds must play gametime wildcard to land Echeverri
Echeverri was one of the best creative players in the Argentine Primera Division last season, notching five goal contributions in just over 1,000 minutes while his underlying data suggested that should’ve been as high as seven or eight.
A sublime dribbler, Echeverri’s slight stature and the threat he poses with a ball at his feet (combined with his Argentine nationality and the need for journalists to hit readership targets) has seen the 19-year-old compared with Lionel Messi, while he boasts an incredible junior record for La Albiceleste. Echeverri has scored six goals in 12 games for Argentina U20s - not quite matching Messi’s record of 14 in 18, but similar to what Sergio Aguero, Angel di Maria and Lautaro Martinez managed at the same level.
Meanwhile if he can recreate his 2.32 successful take-ons from his last league campaign for River Plate in the Premier League, Echeverri will be equal to Iliman Ndiaye, Noni Madueke and Eberchi Eze. He’s a fantastic ball player too, excelling at pushing the ball upfield with progressive passes as his seven per game would equate to almost a quarter of Leeds’ total tally on average this season (all per Opta via FBref).
Few players complete as many through balls as Echeverri, and he loves to get on the ball, ranking highly for carrying distance and touches. To cap it all off, he’s a set piece threat - as the planet found out at the Club World Cup when he sank a dipping free-kick effort into the back of the net against Al Ain from at least 20 yards by now.
However, Leeds will have to fight off plenty of other potential suitors looking to sign such a talented player. There have been no formal links between Echeverri and Elland Road yet with Manchester City still at least a month away from needing to make a decision on his future.
He’d bring a major advantage over the likes of Parrott and Maeda given the relatively small financial hit The Whites would have to take to bring the Argentine in. If Leeds can promise game time - Echeverri would need to see off the likes of Brenden Aaronson, Dan James or Ao Tanaka for minutes in a rejigged attack - Manchester City would likely be happy to strike favourable loan conditions.
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