Manchester City are set to pay River Plate of Argentina $25-30 million for attacking midfielder Claudio Echeverri. El Diablito as he is known has had an impressive start to his career with the Argentine U-17’s scoring 12 goals in 20 games.
At River Plate things are a bit more complicated, Claudio Echeverri was seen as a huge up and coming star for years, playing extremely well in River Plate’s youth ranks, but he only made 5 appearances for the club and started only 1 game, which resulted in River winning the Trofeo de Campeones against Rosario Central last week.
River supporters have been livid with the club for not using the talented player more, but fans have also been angry with Echeverri for stating that he “would not renew his deal and play only six months to a year” at River Plate, knowing of the Manchester City interest.
What plans does Man City have for Claudio Echeverri?
According to various reports in England and Argentina, Claudio Echeverri will be sold to Manchester City, but will not head to City right away, he is expected to stay at River Plate from six months to a year, depending how deep the team gets in the Copa Libertadores.
After Claudio Echeverri’s time at River Plate he is slated to go on loan for a time at Girona, a member team of the City Football Group, who play in La Liga.
River Plate fans angry at Claudio Echeverri
On social media River Plate fans have dubbed Claudio Echeverri as “ungrateful”, “mercenary”, and “money eyes”, due to not staying at least a year longer and being sold to what many fans deemed would be a higher value.
Many supporters attribute Claudio Echeverri’s desire to leave as a result of a greedy agent and the poor handling by River Plate to give Claudio Echeverri more playing time.
Despite all the complaining by River supporters, Los Millonarios won the Argentine league and Champions Cup in 2023.
