On Christmas Eve, Sportitalia reported Manchester City are ready to pay €25m for River Plate’s Claudio Echeverri.
The 17-year-old came up through the ranks of the club’s youth system and made his first team debut earlier this year. His deal lasts until December 2024 and Echeverri confirmed last week that he won’t sign an extension.
Olé state Manchester City have ‘accelerated talks’ to structure an offer which they have been ‘preparing in silence for over a month’. The attacking midfielder has a €25m release clause.
The report states the Citizens’ idea is to buy the Argentina U17 international for a fee close to his clause. They’d then send him back on loan to River Plate for 12 to 18 months, so he can continue his development.
Manchester City feel the youngster isn’t yet ready for the needs of the Premier League, which is why they are looking to buy and loan him out.
Olé state the parties have ‘entered a final phase’ of negotiation that’ll lead to a ‘formal offer’. The agreement is ‘in sight’ and the details of the final fee and payment structure needs to be finalised.
The report further adds that between next Tuesday and Wednesday, ‘there will be news in a negotiation in which details remain to be consolidated’.
To sum it up, Manchester City’s negotiations for Echeverri have ‘entered the final stage’. They will pay a fee close to his €25m clause and then loan him back to River Plate for 12 to 18 months.
