Serie A sporting director expresses desire to sign Manchester City wonderkid | OneFootball

Nicolas Burdisso, AC Monza’s sporting director, has said he wants Manchester City loanee Claudio Echeverri at the Serie A club next season, according to Italian reports.

Echeverri arrived in England from Argentinian side River Plate in 2025 and was looking ahead at one of the biggest challenges of his career by joining to a City troupe that was struggling to perform well on a consistent basis.

The 20-year-old was given no easy task in his short days at the Etihad Stadium club, where he featured in an FA Cup Final defeat to Crystal Palace before enjoying a much more appealing FIFA Club World Cup campaign in the United States. 

Most notably, he converted a stunning free-kick against Al Ain in a 6-0 win, curling the ball from 20-yards which kissed the underside of the crossbar to record his first and only goal for the club. 

Due to an influx of other world-class talent, Manchester City thought it would be fair to send Echeverri out on loan. But despite club officials wanting the youngster to move to sister-club Girona, the midfielder’s representatives opted for Bayer Leverkusen. 

Claudio Echeverri’s difficult 2025/26 season

While in Germany, he only played 270 minutes in 11 appearances and found himself on the bench more often than not. During the first-half of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season, the attacking midfielder was an unused substitute in seven of 13 games in which he was available. 

As a result, Kasper Hjulmand – the Bayer Leverkusen manager – worked with Manchester City and agreed to terminate the loan agreement earlier than intended, which led to Claudio Echeverri moving to Spain in January, rejoining the City Football Group (CFG) circle gaining more enjoyable and frequent football. 

Claudio Echeverri since made 17 La Liga appearances for Girona by scoring and assisting once, with both contributions coming in the same game against Athletic Club in March.

Echeverri to head back into European football this summer?

Due to the increase in his minutes and confidence, Echeverri has begun attracting interest from certain parts of Europe and, according to Gianluca Di Marzio, AC Monza are keeping their eyes peeled on the talent. 

Another loan move would be beneficial for Claudio Echeverri it seems, given his performances at present and the subtle increase in his minutes, load and intensity from playing across Europe.

Those factors make it a complex situation when weighing up his Manchester City future, but if he is to continue to retain elite-level experience, he could certainly evolve into the player those within the Etihad Stadium thought they were getting in 2025.