'Little devil' Echeverri can light up blue side of Manchester

Having broken through to River Plate's first team aged just 16, South American football expert Tim Vickery takes a look at what Manchester City can expect from Claudio Echeverri, the latest player to make the journey to the Premier League.

Player profile: Claudio Echeverri

After the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, there was an explosion of babies born in Argentina given the names of Julian and Enzo. There is a simple explanation.

During the tournament, Messrs Alvarez and Fernandez became key members of the team that ended up lifting the trophy, and fans felt especially close to them because they had only recently been transferred abroad. Of course, this feeling was especially strong with supporters of River Plate, one of the country’s traditional big two clubs.

Where Boca Juniors have a reputation for sweat and struggle, River are more associated with refined, classy football.

Julian Alvarez and Enzo Fernandez are proud representatives of a long tradition, and so too is 19-year-old attacking midfielder Claudio Echeverri, who has now left River to join Manchester City.

Indeed Echeverri joins an impressive list of players to have followed the same route from River Plate to the Premier League, including Javier Mascherano (West Ham United and Liverpool), Hernan Crespo and Gonzalo Higuain (both Chelsea), and Erik Lamela (Tottenham Hotspur).

Argentinian babies may in the future be named in Echeverri's honour - but possibly not in the same quantity as Julian and Enzo, which is no reflection on his talent. Rather, it is a consequence of making the move so early, before he could cement such a solid bond with the local fans. 

Echeverri had almost a year-and-a-half in and around the first team, making 48 appearances, many off the bench. Even so, he did enough to ensure that supporters will carry some good memories of "El Diablito" - the little devil.

The new City signing owes his nickname to a near namesake, 1990s Bolivia star Marco Etcheverry, whose sinuous skills saw him dubbed "El Diablo".

It is appropriate in two senses. First, Echeverri is from the north of Argentina, some 500 miles outside Buenos Aires and well on the way to the border with Bolivia. And second, like an aggressive little bee, he can turn the lives of defenders into an inferno.

With the excellence of their scouting network, River picked him up and brought Echeverri down to Buenos Aires at the age of 11, and were quickly aware that they had something special on their hands when he shone in a youth tournament in Italy.

Echeverri worked his way through the ranks, and made his major breakthrough in 2023. It was the year of the Under-17 FIFA World Cup in Indonesia. Argentina finished fourth, on the way beating Brazil 3-0 in the quarter-final, with Echeverri scoring all three.

By this time he had already seen first team action at River Plate. Coach Martin Demichelis, the former Man City defender, was giving him plenty of opportunities, mainly as an impact sub - and he delivered.

In early 2024, Echeverri came off the bench to kick-start River’s campaign in the Copa Libertadores, South America’s UEFA Champions League. They were being held at Venezuelan side Deportivo Tachira in their opening game, but as soon as Echeverri came on, it was a different story.

An electric figure, he was instantly making things happen, both running at defenders and committing them, and opening up spaces with his eye for an early pass. It was especially interesting to see that, unlike so many youngsters of his slight build, he was not pushed out to the wing.

Echeverri was in a central role, from where he had the entire attacking line to move around and find ways to hurt the opposition.

Relishing responsibility

Demichelis began to trust Echeverri more, and put him in his starting XI for the two matches River played against Boca Juniors in the early months of last year. But soon afterwards there was a change of coach, with Demichelis giving way to Marcelo Gallardo, the returning hero.  Echeverri lost space.

Gallardo was thinking long term, and knew that Echeverri had already been sold to City. River also had a deep squad, full of options, such as another comeback kid, the ex-West Ham playmaker Manuel Lanzini.

River reached the semi-finals of the Libertadores, but Echeverri was not even used as they went down 3-0 to Brazil’s Atletico Mineiro in the first leg. In the return tie he was thrown on for the last 30 minutes, and caused the Brazilians more problems than anyone else. They could not break the deadlock, and went out 3-0 on aggregate, but at least River fans were given a reminder of what they soon would be missing.

At the start of this year Echeverri was by some distance the best thing on show in the South American Under-20 Championships in Venezuela. He appeared to relish the responsibility of leading the attack.

Especially pleasing was the way that he stayed unflustered when things did not go his way. The man from Resistencia was happy to dust himself down and have another go - a mentality which will serve him well in his demanding new surroundings.

City fans will surely take to him. Across town, Manchester United might be the Red Devils, but City now have a "Diablito" they can call their own.

Who knows - perhaps in a few years there will be an explosion of Manchester babies called Claudio!