Chelsea and Manchester City are ‘on the lookout’ for Argentinian talent Claudi Echeverri, but Barcelona ‘have their arguments’ to convince the player to join them.
That’s according to Sport, who say the Catalans are confident they can win the race for the highly rated youngster despite competition from the Premier League duo.
Echeverri has earned himself a growing list of suitors after his recent performances at the U-17 World Cup in Indonesia, where he was one of the stars of the show.
That has put him on the radar of several big European clubs, including Chelsea and Manchester City, who have both been linked in recent weeks.
Indeed, Manchester City were believed to be sprinting ahead in an attempt to get a deal done and beat the competition, namely Barcelona, to his signature.
However, it was reported in Spain yesterday that Barcelona had responded to this by trying to get ahead themselves, even working out a deal that suited everyone involved.
Sport now pick up on that and explain a deal for Echeverri is ‘more complicated’ than others being eyed by Barcelona as his price has ‘skyrocketed’ thanks to his performances with the national team in Indonesia.
His release clause is €25m and Barcelona would even be willing to pay beyond that, as was detailed in the report yesterday, to ensure they win out.
They’re aware that Manchester City and Chelsea are also ‘on the lookout’ but they believe they have ‘arguments’ to convince the player that go beyond money.
One of those is the fact that Echeverri ‘has already confessed’ that he would like to play for Barcelona, something it seems the Catalans are playing on as they try to win the race for his signature.
