“It was a difficult few months” – Claudio Echeverri breaks silence on unsuccessful Bayer Leverkusen loan | OneFootball

Manchester City and Argentina playmaker Claudio Echeverri has lifted the lid on his struggles on loan at Bayer Leverkusen before a January move to Girona.

The 20-year-old arrived in England from River Plate in January 2025 as City and Pep Guardiola navigated their most challenging season in nearly a decade, a campaign wherein the Blues finished trophyless and finished third in the Premier League with their lowest points tally (71) under Guardiola.

Echeverri was thrown into the deep end off the bench in Manchester City’s 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in the 2025 FA Cup final, a substitution that raised eyebrows given Guardiola opted for the then teenager to come on to make an impact over club record signing Jack Grealish.

The River Plate academy graduate learnt his trade training day-in and day-out under Guardiola for the remainder of the 2024-25 season, enjoying a stellar FIFA Club World Cup campaign where he scored a stunning free-kick in a 6-0 group-stage drubbing of Al Ain.

Manchester City decided to send Echeverri out on loan for the current season to progress the playmaker’s development amid a period of rebuild at the Etihad Stadium led by director of football Hugo Viana, who made seven new signings for Guardiola last summer.

While executives at the Etihad Stadium preferred to send Echeverri to CFG-owned sister club Girona, the Argentinian’s representatives pushed for a season-long loan to Bayer Leverkusen – a desire that was sanctioned by Manchester City but one that did not go down well with club bosses.

Echeverri struggled for minutes in the first half of the 2025-26 Bundesliga campaign as the German outfit underwent managerial upheaval, raising huge doubt over the Manchester City loanee’s prospects moving forward.

Guardiola expressed subtle frustration at Echeverri’s agent in a press conference in November 2025, with Manchester City accepting that they would need to reconsider their decision to allow the Argentine to move to Germany.

City cut Echeverri’s loan at Bayer Leverkusen short in January and the 20-year-old went on to join hands with fellow Etihad Stadium loanee Vitor Reis at Girona in Spain, where he has made a positive start and will be working to enjoy a strong finish to a season whose start fell well below expectations for those keeping an eye out from England.

In a recent interview with DAZN Spain, Echeverri reflected on his struggles at Bayer Leverkusen. “I was really looking forward to this (Girona),” the midfielder said, as relayed by TyC Sports.

“It was a difficult few months in Germany, I had a really tough time. Now I’m here (at Girona), happy, trying to get back to the form I was sold to Manchester City for. I’m very happy.”

Guardiola and the Manchester City hierarchy will be delighted to see Echeverri returning to show the form that made the Blues sign the playmaker from River Plate, a route previously trodden by Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez before he left City for Spain in 2024.