Highly-rated gem should “write off Man City career” if he makes “horrifically bad” transfer decision

Claudio Echeverri will “almost certainly” have his loan deal at Bayer Leverkusen terminated in January, but a return to boyhood club River Plate is a “horrifically bad idea”, Citizens expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany has told Sports Mole.

The highly-rated 19-year-old attacker has struggled to gain regular first-team football with the Bundesliga club since joining in the summer, failing to score or assist across three starts and five substitute outings in all competitions.

Leverkusen’s start to the campaign was disrupted by the dismissal of Erik ten Hag after just four competitive games and the arrival of new head coach Kasper Hjulmand has offered little benefit to Echeverri.

Champions League rules permit Echeverri to play against his parent club Man City in Tuesday’s League Phase fixture at the Etihad Stadium, but a start for Leverkusen appears to be unlikely.

Recent reports have claimed that both Echeverri and Man City officials have become increasingly dissatisfied with his situation at Leverkusen and his loan could be cut short in January, with the Citizens potentially loaning him out to a new club for the second half of the season.

Pep Guardiola was asked by reporters on Monday if Man City might bring Echeverri back in January, and he replied: "It is a question for his beautiful agent."

It is understood that the four-cap Argentina international has informed his family and representatives that he would like to return to River Plate, where he rose to stardom before completing a £12.5m transfer to Man City.

“[Echeverri] wants to go back to Argentina. He wants to play for River [Plate] again. He wants continuity and he knows River is the best place to get it,” said ESPN journalist Juan Patricio Balbi.

 

 

Echeverri to River Plate a “horrifically bad idea”

However, McInerney has strongly advised Echeverri not to re-join River Plate and claims that “Man City will give up on him” if he chooses to return to his native Argentina as opposed to continuing his career in Europe.

“If he goes back to River Plate, just write your City career off. It's genuinely stupid. That's what I expect a 19-year-old boy to say. It's so stupid,” McInerney told Sports Mole.

“It's honestly dumb to say ‘I need to prove myself in Europe, so I'll go back to River Plate where they're already p***ed off at me anyway for leaving in the first place because the manager started to bench me a fair bit’. It's honestly jilted lover stuff.

“Do not go back to your former club to try and prove yourself in Europe from a club that doesn't want you anymore because you burned those bridges in the first place. Honestly, dumb behaviour.

“I really hope that's just him being emotional, thinking about home and wanting to go back towards his family, not necessarily River Plate, because I think it's terrible, truly a horrifically bad idea.

“The way to prove yourself if you're good enough for a European giant isn't to fail at a big European club on loan, then run back to Argentina with your tail between your legs and hope it somehow goes better than it did.

“He wasn't even playing that regularly for River Plate previously. He was on the bench a fair bit, so honestly it'd be insanely dumb, and if he does go back to River Plate, I can tell you now, City will give up on him.

 

 

Echeverri can “write off his Man City career” if he re-joins River Plate

“They just absolutely will, because everything about that screams the wrong mentality. It screams the wrong decision, the wrong step. It's just a horrifically bad idea. I cannot disprove enough of that idea.

“I understand River Plate are a massive club in Argentina, but if you really, truly want to play for Manchester City, you cannot go back there. You absolutely have to go to a major European league and assert yourself, because that is the next step he needs to do.

“I'd be incredibly disappointed and I would immediately just write off his Manchester City career if he went back to River Plate.”

Discussing Echeverri’s situation at Leverkusen and his future ahead of the January transfer window, McInerney added: “It's a shame. This is the problem with loans. It doesn't matter how talented you are. If a manager just doesn't fancy you or whatever, then this can happen.

“It felt like he went there against City's advice, which gives City power, but it's also frustrating at the same time, because it's been a waste of six months. He almost certainly will return in January.

“I think the player is too highly rated to sit on the bench for another six months, but it's very obvious that the [Leverkusen] manager, right now, has no intention of using him.

“Things could change drastically. He could play [on Tuesday], score a hat-trick against Man City, and then he starts every single game. Then he's one of the best players in the Bundesliga. Football can just shift like that very quickly.

 

 

“Next step is going to be really important for Echeverri”

“But it does feel likely at this point he'll return in January and go on loan somewhere. January loans are messy as well. There's no guarantee that he's going to go on loan.

“Unfortunately, I think this season could be a bit of a write-off for him. The problem is at that age as well, once you have a season like this, it can be very hard to get going again. So much luck is needed to make it at a club the size of Man City, in terms of timing and opportunities. I do wonder if this could be a bit of a setback for him.

“It feels like he's almost certainly going to go on loan next season. At this point, it feels very unlikely that he should come back to Man City's first team because this season feels like it's going to be one of just a bit of a failure, and then start again next year.

“He could obviously have a great January onwards and change everything, but the chances of an incredible loan now to the end of the season get smaller and smaller when teams are trying to find their identity.

“It's a real shame. He's obviously a very highly-talented footballer, but I don't want that energy and that vigour he's got to his game to be stunted by frustrated spells on the bench, but that's where we are.

“The next step is going to be really important for him because you can lose a lot of momentum as a young attacker by sitting doing nothing.”

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