Manchester City wonder-kid Claudio Echeverri to join Bayer Leverkusen on loan

Manchester City are set to send 19 year old wonder-kid Claudio Echeverri, who joined the club from River Plate in January, out on loan to last season’s Bundesliga runners-up Bayer Leverkusen. Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that the deal is complete, within an hour of the story initially breaking.

🚨💣 Claudio Echeverri to Bayer Leverkusen, here we go! Deal agreed with Manchester City for straight loan.

No buy option clause, salary covered by Leverkusen and Echeverri on his way for medical already tonight.

El Diablito will play under ten Hag, as @MatteMoretto reported. pic.twitter.com/zQPXp5gjYD

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 19, 2025

Who is Claudio Echeverri?

Claudio Echeverri is a highly rated Argentine who signed for Manchester City from River Plate. City initially agreed to purchase him in January of 2024, but loaned him back to his former team for the entirety of the calendar year (the Argentine Primera División runs from January to December). Nicknamed ‘El Diablito’ (little devil), he is known as an extremely technically gifted attacking midfielder, who in his short time at Manchester City has already made a small number of appearances. Most notably, he was sent on in City’s FA Cup final defeat to Crystal Palace, as Guardiola sought to change the game with an unexpected debut. Echeverri came close to being the hero in that game, creating and attacking with all the zeal one would expect of a young kid making their debut in such an important game; he certainly did not look out of place in an admittedly worse-than-usual City side. Echeverri also appeared briefly in the Premier League as City clinched Champions League qualification on the final day against Fulham. His last appearance for City came at the Club World Cup, where he scored his first goal for the team, a free kick in a 6-0 thrashing of Al Ain.

Why loan him?

Manchester City are actively trying to trim their squad, and Echeverri is, despite his few appearances last season, probably not ready for regular game-time for the first team. He is also evidently far too good to be dropped into City’s Premier League 2 side, and regardless Echeverri is far too ambitious to accept that for even a single season. So the club decided that a loan abroad would be the best move for him, allowing him to play in a still very talented team who had qualified for Europe without needing to unseat some of the players currently in City’s squad.

Why Bayer Leverkusen?

There were a number of clubs interested in the player, including Roma and Borussia Dortmund. Both of these clubs would allow him to play in Europe, but the major problem with these two options that made them unacceptable to City were that they both desired buy-options for the player. City have absolutely no interest in losing the player permanently, and so neither of these options were acceptable. Bayer Leverkusen, on the other hand, were happy with a straight loan as they look to fill in the gap left by Florian Wirtz, who made a record-breaking switch to Premier League champions Liverpool this summer. Additionally, Erik Ten Hag joining the club means that the style of play Leverkusen will employ will translate well onto Guardiola’s when Echeverri returns. Lastly, Leverkusen qualified for the Champions League, and with the extended format it is also likely that Echeverri will get a taste of football on the biggest stage, which will be a massive boost in his preparation to break into City’s first team.

Conclusion

This is a deal that works perfectly for everyone; City offload a player that for the moment they cannot fit into their squad, Echeverri gets to test himself at the very highest level, and Leverkusen get a supremely talented young attacker for the season at relatively little cost. Football fans across the globe will watch with keen interest to see if this highly rated player can immediately slot in at an elite-level club, showcasing why City trusted him so quickly last season.