2 weeks ago
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Manchester City midfielder Claudio Echeverri has not had a great start to his year on loan at Leverkusen
Claudio Echeverri's move to Leverkusen has not started as he would have liked. The Manchester City youngster has managed just 82 minutes in what has been a disappointing campaign so far for both player and club.
Leverkusen began horrendously, sacking new manager Erik Ten Hag after just three games to get the post-Xabi Alonso era off to the worst possible start. New coach Kasper Hjulmand has steadied the ship, although Echeverri has not been able to work his way into the team.
That is a far cry from how the signing looked in the summer when he was given the No.9 shirt and would have been pushing for the minutes that Florian Wirtz had filled in the team. Instead, he has had a bit-part role as other summer arrivals have been preferred.
It is not the situation that City will have wanted for a teenager that made such an impression on Pep Guardiola that he was given his debut off the bench in the FA Cup final. There was lots of interest in the playmaker in the summer, so City were not short of options as they looked to get him the best possible move.
The chaotic start to Leverkusen's season can't have gone down well, and nor can the continued presence of Echeverri on the fringes as the team has stabilised. However, comments from sporting director Simon Rolfes this week do give the player hope of a greater involvement.
“The team must first gain defensive stability in order to play dominant football,” he told Kicker. “The more we manage to do this, the more Claudio (Echeverri) and other attacking players will benefit from it.”
That is more positive, although the clock is ticking. City won't want to see Echeverri unused when Leverkusen visit the Etihad in the Champions League in November and may need to assess their options in January if things do not improve.
The player himself also needs to think about what is best. City are planning for the long-term with Echeverri yet he has his eyes firmly fixed on a role for Argentina at the World Cup in summer.
If the 19-year-old is to get what he wants, he needs to be playing more often in the months leading up to it and that is more urgent than anything to do with City.
Leverkusen have opened the door for change, but it needs to be pretty speedy to give Echeverri and City what they want from the next nine months.
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