River Plate sporting director Enzo Francescoli has confirmed that highly-rated midfielder Claudio Echeverri is set to join Manchester City next year.
The treble winners are believed to have struck a deal to sign the 18-year-old for a £21.7m fee, and he will commit his future to Pep Guardiola's side for the next six years.
Echeverri will be following a similar path to Julian Alvarez, who also swapped River Plate for the Etihad but spent another six months on loan with the Argentinian side in the second half of the 2021-22 campaign.
Echeverri's contract with River Plate only runs until the end of the calendar year, leading to anger from fans that the club did not tie the midfielder down to a long-term deal with a hefty release clause.
However, SportCenter - via ESPN Deportes - Francescoli affirmed that it would have been impossible for his side to insert a nine-figure release clause into any deal, and his side are still receiving a good sum of money for the teenager.
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"He is very calm, I see him the same as last year. Obviously he must have his internal things. But he deserves it, he is a great boy. He is very well, with his feet on the ground beyond what happens to him at 18 years old, which is a lot. I spoke to him a couple of days ago. He is very well, calm," Francescoli said.
"I understand. People get impatient and don't know how things happen. There is no longer an ideal world as always imagined. You have to live with globalization, on a day-to-day basis. The same thing happens in football. Nobody should be surprised. It is very difficult to sustain long-term projects.
"The inevitable ones are these, players like Claudio who surprise, who excite many people. Distant markets and others closer like the Brazilian, which has more economic power than us and has an easier path in the economic part. River has that condition to at least consider having him play for a year.
"A sale without going to the clause as is mostly the desire, very similar money and he stays with us for one more year. Things have been done well, with the boy's will, his representative and City, who could have waited six months to take him. You have to take a lot of things into account. Today the market and the Argentine situation, too.
"The sale is very good economically. We know the conditions he has, but he is only 18 years old. You cannot put a clause of 100 million on the players like in Europe, which has high salaries. It is not that easy."
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Echeverri is yet to truly make a name for himself in the River Plate first team, only managing one assist from six appearances, but he has been a standout performer for Argentina at Under-17 level.
Back in April, Echeverri scored a tournament-high five goals at the Under-17 South American Championships - in addition to providing three assists - as Argentina finished in third place behind Ecuador and champions Brazil.
Seven months later, the 2006-born midfielder captained Argentina at the Under-17 World Cup and amassed another quintet of goals for his nation, guiding them to the semi-finals before they were dumped out by Germany on penalties.
Chelsea and Real Madrid were also believed to have been keeping tabs on the River Plate man before Man City struck a deal with their South American counterparts, and he has earned his first call-up to Argentina's Under-23 squad for the upcoming CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic tournament.
Ben Knapton
