From Italy: Manchester City star set for Lazio loan as uncertainty heightens over first-team chances | OneFootball

Claudio Echeverri has been linked with a loan move to Serie A side Lazio in the summer transfer window, according to reports from Italy.

Echeverri, 19, was signed by Manchester City 12 months ago and immediately loaned back to his boyhood club River Plate for a year, resembling the manner Julian Alvarez signed for the Premier League champions a few years ago.

The highly-rated teenager has three years left on his current deal at the Etihad Stadium and Manchester City decided to enrol him in the first-team ranks in January, making him a fifth signing of sorts the club made midway through the season.

Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Omar Marmoush and Nico Gonzalez all signed for City in a January window like none other for some time, with the Blues spending £181.5 million to inject youth and freshness into an ageing, injury-riddled squad.

Pep Guardiola has been impressed by Echeverri from what he’s seen of the Argentinian in training so far, with it currently unlikely for the youngster to make his first-team debut.

Guardiola has doubled down on the importance of Manchester City finishing in the UEFA Champions League places in the Premier League this season, with the Blues currently in fifth place in the table with nine games to play.

City return to action after the international break this weekend when they travel to the south in a tricky FA Cup quarter-final tie against Bournemouth – a must-win for Guardiola’s men if they are to secure some sort of silverware in an objectively disappointing campaign.

As reported by Corriere della Sera and relayed by Sport Witness, talks have begun over a loan move for Echeverri to Lazio in the summer transfer window, which would give the young attacker a platform to gain regular first-team football.

City will be keen to progress Echeverri’s development and should it appear unlikely that he will get meaningful game time in Manchester next season, a loan move that will guarantee minutes will serve all parties well.

However, Argentinian journalist Uriel Iugt has since denied that a loan move to Lazio is being mooted for Echeverri, who is expected to be part of City’s pre-season cohort ahead of the 2025-26 term.