Who is Claudio Echeverri? Man City's new signing dubbed the next Lionel Messi

Manchester City have announced the signing of Claudio Echeverri from River Plate.

City confirmed the signing for an initial £12.5m and that the player will remain at River for a year as part of the agreement. It is a similar arrangement to when City signed Julian Alvarez in January 2022 and allowed him to spend six months back on loan at River.

It remains to be seen whether City will push to sign a more senior midfielder before the window slams shut next Thursday. So, who is Echeverri and what could he bring to City? We have taken a look...

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Echeverri was born in Resistencia, the capital of Chaco in north-eastern Argentina. He joined local club Deportivo Lujan, where he developed and soon caught the eye of River scouts. As a result, Echeverri was offered a trial and left River's recruitment director Daniel Brizuela impressed.

He told TyC Sports: "Beyond skill and technique, we look at decision-making, intelligence and character. Claudio was like a 10-year-old man." Echeverri, a right-footed midfielder, joined River at the age of 11.

Echeverri made such an impact that he was invited to join up with Argentina's senior squad and left former Manchester United and Real Madrid ace Angel Di Maria impressed.

"You can see he's got some fire in him, we definitely watched him," he said. "He's got a lot to give. We've already been seeing it. It's nice that the coaching staff gives these types of opportunities to the little ones to be able to enjoy with the older ones in this beautiful moment that we are living in."

The website GOAL has dubbed him the 'next Lionel Messi' and have