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Manchester City face Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday - as they aim to move a step closer to securing a top-eight finish
Claudio Echeverri's loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen has not gone as planned. Signed to great fanfare by the Bundesliga club ahead of the campaign and handed the No.9 shirt, it promised to be an exciting campaign for the Argentinian.
But Erik ten Hag, who had signed the youngster on loan from Manchester City, was sacked three games into the season and Echeverri has since found himself on the fringes of the Leverkusen squad. He was an unused sub as the German side won 3-1 at Wolfsburg on Saturday ahead of their trip to the Etihad on Tuesday night in the Champions League.
Echeverri caught the eye for City in the Club World Cup before injury curtailed his involvement, while he had been a surprise debutant off the bench in the FA Cup final defeat to Crystal Palace. Pep Guardiola has been impressed and City sought a club in Europe when arranging his loan to provide regular minutes.
But Echeverri has barely featured for Leverkusen, who are up to second in the Bundesliga after a difficult start to the season. His only three starts have all come in the Champions League - against PSG (a 7-2 defeat where he was subbed after 45 minutes), Bayern (a 3-0 defeat where he was subbed after 57 minutes) and Benfica (a 1-0 win where he was subbed after 57 minutes).
City have been monitoring Echeverri's minutes with some concern for weeks, and if the player wants to feature with Argentina at the World Cup this summer, he may have to move again in January for more minutes.
Reports have suggested he could return to River Plate in Argentina on loan, although City are understood to favour experience in European football as the next step in the 19-year-old's career. Further talks will take place between City and Leverkusen in the coming weeks and it forms an intriguing subplot ahead of Tuesday's Champions League tie.
Echeverri is eligible to feature against his parent club under the terms of his loan, as was the case in recent years with Joao Cancelo (Bayern Munich) who featured in Europe against City while still being a City player.
Whether Echeverri is actually given any time on the Etihad pitch this week remains to be seen. He has mustered just 243 minutes of club football this term, mostly off the bench, and is yet to complete 90 minutes. He will return to Manchester with more questions than answers surrounding his immediate future after a difficult three months.
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