Manchester City midfielder faces club vs country dilemma after sporting director comments | OneFootball

Manchester City’s attacking midfielder Claudio Echeverri, currently on loan at Bayer Leverkusen, wants to represent Argentina at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in September.

The 19-year-old arrived at the Etihad Stadium from boyhood club River Plate in January, becoming Manchester City’s second recruit from the south American outfit after Julian Alvarez, who spent two seasons in Manchester before joining Atletico Madrid for £82 million last summer.

Echeverri was handed a surprise Manchester City debut in the FA Cup final at Wembley in May, with Pep Guardiola overlooking £100 million signing Jack Grealish to hand Echeverri a chance to influence proceedings and overturn a one-goal deficit against Crystal Palace.

The teenager has impressed in training since his integration into Guardiola’s first-team and scored a stunning free-kick goal in Manchester City’s 6-0 drubbing of Al-Ain at the FIFA Club World Cup in the summer, which alerted clubs across Europe of the Argentinian’s talents.

It would always be a tall order for a young recruit to break into the Manchester City first-team squad six months into his arrival to England, with Etihad Stadium officials deciding that a season-long loan elsewhere would be ideal to progress Echeverri’s development in the short-term.

Having wanted Echeverri to follow Manchester City teammate Vitor Reis to Girona, the 19-year-old attacking midfielder convinced club bosses to allow him to move to Bayer Leverkusen for the 2025-26 campaign.

Echeverri is widely regarded as one of the best south American talents across the globe and Manchester City will be closely monitoring the Argentinian’s progress in Germany, with Guardiola’s side undergoing a period of transition after a major revamp of their first-team squad this summer.

Having made two Bundesliga appearances off the bench for Bayer Leverkusen so far this term, Echeverri has been presented with a dilemma ahead of the FIFA U-20 World Cup that will be kick off later in September in Chile and run for a month.

Echeverri is keen on representing the Argentina U-20 National Team in Chile but Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes has made it clear that the club expect the on-loan Manchester City star to stay put in Germany.

“We’re going to need the player (Echeverri). He’s staying. That’s our opinion, and City’s too,” Rolfes told Olé, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness.

Argentina have to submit their final squad for registration for the upcoming tournament by the weekend so time is running out for Echeverri to convince Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City to let him represent his nation.

It remains to be seen whether Leverkusen will soften their stance and give into Echeverri’s desire and Manchester City will be holding behind-the-scenes conversations with their attacking midfielder to find an amicable solution.