Manchester City beat Barcelona to signing of wonderkid – €25m deal agreed | OneFootball

In recent weeks, there has been plenty of speculation in regards to Claudio Echeverri. The 17-year-old is one of the hottest young prospects in world football at the moment, and this has meant that several top European clubs have registered their interest.

Barcelona have been one of those keen on signing Echeverri, who impressed at the recent U17 World Cup with Argentina. However, despite the player himself being very keen on a move to Catalonia, River Plate rejected an offer worth in the region of €25m.

Barcelona since cooled their interest due to financial reasons, and that saw Manchester City take the lead in the race to sign Echeverri – it is a race that they now appear to have won, with Gaston Edul reporting that an agreement has been reached between the European champions and River.

Man City will pay €25m for Echeverri, who will stay at River Plate for the next 6-12 months on loan. He becomes the latest highly-rated youngster that Barcelona have missed out on, another being Gabriel Moscardo.