When new Manchester City signing Claudio Echeverri picked up the ball outside the area for River Plate on Monday, he had plenty to do. But a drop of the shoulder took him past one defender and into the box, before a turn of pace took him towards the byline and past another. Then came the fierce shot from a tight angle into the roof of the net, and the celebration in the opposite direction.
18-year-old midfielder Echeverri signed for City in January for an initial £12.5m with add-ons. He was loaned back to River for a year, similar to the deal that saw Alvarez sign from River in January 2022 before spending six months back in Argentina. Back in December, Echeverri used a post-match interview following River's Champions Trophy triumph to say: "My representative spoke with the president, many things were said about him not answering the calls and they were always in contact.
"I expressed myself very poorly," he said. "Since that time I decided not to speak, it was something very sad because I expressed myself very badly. I should not have said it in a place where we had just become champions and it was Enzo's farewell as well.