Manchester City and River announced the transfer of Diablito Echeverri.

The resounding transfer of Claudio Diablito Echeverri from River to Manchester City was completed during the first days of the year, but it still remained to be made official, an action that has now arrived. The millionaire club and the English team, practically at the same time, made publications this Thursday on social networks announcing the agreement for the player who is now in Venezuela with the Argentine team led by Javier Mascherano participating in the Pre-Olympic.

“The 18-year-old signed a contract until June 2028, but will remain at River before moving to the Etihad Stadium in January next year. “Echeverri, who turned 18 on January 2, has already played six games for the Buenos Aires giants,” Manchester City reported.

“Echeverri follows in the footsteps of 2022 World Cup winner Julián Álvarez, who joined City from River in 2022 and becomes the latest in a long line of Argentines to join the club. “Everyone at Manchester City is looking forward to welcoming Claudio to the club and we wish him the best of luck in his remaining time at River,” added the British club.

River, for its part, published: “River Plate and Manchester City reached an agreement for the transfer of footballer Claudio Echeverri, who will continue wearing the shirt of our club throughout 2024 and then continue his career in the English team (. ..) Echeverri, born on January 2, 2006 in Resistencia, Chaco, arrived at River when he was nine years old, where he trained as a soccer player, going through the children’s and youth categories until reaching the First Division. In addition, he had an outstanding performance in the different youth teams of Argentina.”

Echeverri debuted in the first millionaire on June 22 of last year, in River’s 3-1 victory against Instituto, and was part of the team that became champion of the Professional Football League and the 2023 Champions Trophy.

Although the clubs did not publish the transfer figure, it is an operation agreed for an initial 14,000,000 euros and the possibility of another 9,000,000 in case the creative attacking midfielder achieves different individual objectives in the short, medium and long term. The termination clause was 25 million dollars, equivalent to almost 23 million euros.

A sale at the top of River’s history

• Enzo Fernández: 52M euros in 2022 between his move to Benfica and then to Chelsea.
• Javier Saviola: 36M euros to Barcelona in 2001.
• Lucas Alario: 24M euros to Bayer Leverkusen in 2017.
• Claudio Echeverri: 23M euros to Manchester City in 2024.
• Julián Álvarez: 23M euros to Manchester City in 2022.
• Lucas Beltrán: 22M euros to Fiorentina in 2023.
• Pablo Aimar: 21.5M euros to Valencia in 2001.
• Sebastián Driussi: 20M euros to Zenit in 2017.
• Marcelo Salas: 17.5M euros to Lazio in 1998.
• Erik Lamela: 17M euros to Rome in 2010.

An exit that made a lot of noise in Núñez

Nobody can expect a young Argentine footballer to reject an offer as seductive as the one made by Manchester City (one of the powerful of the Old Continent) to Echeverri. But what made a lot of noise in this specific case was the way in which the footballer and his representative, Enzo Montepaone, handled themselves.

“Surely, six more months or one more year I will stay here in River. Then my future will be seen.” Echeverri’s phrase at the end of last year, in the middle of the millionaire team’s celebrations for the Champions Trophy title, shook everything because it came from the mouth of the player himself, whom coach Martín Demichelis started in that game. match against Rosario Central for the first time. After the 2-0 victory over the rogue team in Santiago del Estero, the jewel of Núñez’s team spoke about his continuity in the club in a way that very few expected. The extension of his contract at River, until then, was a very thorny issue. “I’m not going to renew,” Echeverri shot in the middle of the celebrations at the Madre de Ciudades stadium.

In January 2023, Echeverri signed his first professional contract until December of this season and since the South American U-17 ended at the end of last April, Núñez has sought to reach an agreement to extend it, but it never came. In the middle, reports about the interest of several European clubs began to echo in the Monumental.

“He told me that in the euphoria of the celebration he said something that perhaps he didn’t mean. It was wrong for what she had said. I told him to stay calm. “We are on good terms and we trust that it will be resolved favorably for River and for the player, who wants to succeed here,” said River president, Jorge Brito, that same night in Santiago del Estero.

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Manager Enzo Francescoli had been even cruder: “We are trying to renew his contract. He himself must reflect on the fact that the last players who have not only made a great move through River and have entered Europe almost as if they were at home were Julián (Álvarez), Enzo (Fernández) and Beltrán, players who went at a calm pace . Can you go today? Obviously, it has the conditions. But he must rest assured that if River did something well, it was taking care of the young people and making them grow. Claudio is a wonderful player, like Ruberto, Subiabre. “They must have a peaceful path in the club.”

A few days later, from England, they assured that Echeverri’s arrival at Manchester City only depended on details and that there was an agreement in principle for the youth to arrive in England. The information, indeed, was real: Echeverri will have a short stint at River and will play in the Premier League.