‘Not looking to the future’ Man City dominate battle for ‘next Messi’
December 4, 2023
Man City wants Argentina’s highly touted Claudio Echeverría.
“Manchester City are targeting Argentine striker Claudio Echeverría, who has been dubbed the next Lionel Messi. They have the upper hand in the race to sign him.”
Echeverría currently plays for CA River Plate in Argentina. At the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2023, he scored five goals and two assists in seven games, including a hat trick against Brazil in the quarterfinals.
At just 17 years old, he is being touted as the next Messi in Argentina. He has one assist in four games for River Plate this season. Unlike Messi, he plays primarily with his right foot. His strengths are his fast, precise dribbling and intelligent passing.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, and other big clubs are all monitoring him.
According to the outlet, Ezerbi inserted a £214 million ($353 million) buyout clause when he signed with the club in January. That buyout rose to £257.3 million at the end of last summer’s transfer window.
River Plate want to get more money for Eberechi: “River Plate want the buyout doubled and are desperate to re-sign him,” according to the Mirror.
Meanwhile, City are hoping that their good relationship with River Plate will have a positive impact on the deal. There has already been a deal between the two teams. City signed Julian Alvarez from River Plate in 2022.
At the time, 20-year-old Julian Alvarez was leading the Argentine league in scoring with 19 goals and nine assists in 34 games. Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, and others were in the running to sign him, but in the end, it was Man City who won out. They paid a £14.2 million ($23.4 billion) transfer fee for him.
The investment paid off. Alvarez has now scored 25 goals and provided 11 assists in 69 games in a City shirt. He’s filled the void of Kevin De Bruyne, the ‘ace’ who went down with injury earlier this season. He has eight goals and six assists in 20 games.
Meanwhile, Etcheverry is reportedly hoping to join Barcelona. “I want to play for Barcelona because I’m a big fan of Messi and I played for them,” he told Spanish outlet Sport.