Manchester City are set to complete the signing of Velez Sarsfield midfielder Maximo Perrone by activating his $8m release clause.
That’s according to Diario AR, who say the 19-year-old ‘will leave for England’ at the end of the South American Under-20 championship at the end of this month.
They explain that Perrone, who is set to turn 20 tomorrow, will play in the tournament in the second half of this month before making the switch to the Etihad.
He had already ‘exploited his full footballing potential’ in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores but got injured in the tournament and was unable to continue playing a key role in Velez’s run, which ended in a semi-final defeat to Flamengo of Brazil.
Guardiola has a relationship with Mascherano after coaching him at Barcelona and ‘consulted’ his former player to find out the ‘footballing qualities’ of Perrone.
Mascherano provided the ‘best impressions’ he could give, detailing the youngster’s ‘good passing, aerial play and ball control’ that have seen a comparison with Fernando Redondo.
Those comparisons had seen him linked with Real Madrid, who were also keeping an eye on his development, but it is Manchester City who will win the race with Diario AR insisting they ‘will execute’ his $8m release.
