Man City hold upper hand in chase for 'next Lionel Messi' amid seven-club battle
Manchester City are tracking the Argentine teenager who has been dubbed the next Lionel Messi.
The Premier League champions have been watching River Plate sensation Claudio Echeverri play a starring role at the Under-17s World Cup and are hoping the good relationship they struck with the Buenos Aires club when they signed Julian Alvarez will give them an edge.
Echeverri, 17, an attacking midfielder with a deadly eye for goal, is also prompting interest from Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, Juventus and the two Milan clubs.
He has only made four substitute appearances for River Plate but is already being dubbed as the next big thing to come out of Argentina after scoring a hat-trick against arch-rivals Brazil in Indonesia.
Echeverri scored five goals at the tournament but missed a penalty in the semi-final shoot-out defeat to Germany. River Plate put a £21.44million buy-out clause in the contract Echeverri signed in January - although that figure rises to £25.73million within 10 days of any transfer window closing.
The Argentine club are now desperately trying to renegotiate the deal in a bid to double the value of the clause. City signed Alvarez from River Plate almost two years ago - but then allowed the striker to remain with the club for six months to play in the Copa Libertadores.
Since joining the club Alvarez has scored 25 goals in 69 appearances across all competitions, notably helping them win the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League last season. The 23-year-old has started every Premier League game so far this season and Guardiola branded him "almost undroppable" earlier this year, praising the way he has stepped up following the departure of Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne's recent absence due to a hamstring
Read on m.allfootballapp.com
