One problem for Manchester City seemingly only has one solution

To say Claudio Echeverri’s loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen has been a disappointment would be an apt description. The young attacking midfielder has barely made an impression at the Bundesliga outfit. The hope was that Echeverri would go to Leverkusen and play regular first-team football to set himself up for a career at Manchester City. But that has not occurred. Instead, Echeverri has made eight appearances this season playing a grand total of 240 minutes in all competitions.

For whatever reason, Echeverri hasn’t featured for Leverkusen this season. It would seem that Echeverri is destined to return to City in January to end his disappointing loan spell in Germany.

Pep Guardiola has slammed Claudio Echeverri’s agent over Echeverri’s miserable time in Germany.

Speaking ahead of Manchester City’s Champions League league phase fixture against Bayer Leverkusen, Pep Guardiola was asked about the prospects of Claudio Echeverri returning to Manchester City in January. Guardiola side-stepped the question but did have a pointed message for Claudio Echeverri’s agent. Speaking on the Echeverri situation, Pep Guardiola said: “It’s a question for his beautiful agent. We have an incredible appreciation about him as a player, and what happened in Leverkusen you have to ask, I don’t know because I’m not involved and didn’t speak with him. I’m pretty sure his agent will know everything than everyone.”

Manchester City need to recall Claudio Echeverri and send him where he can play regularly.

As CityXtra reports, Manchester City wanted to send Claudio Echeverri on loan to Girona for this season. Vitor Reis has benefited from playing regularly in La Liga. Claudio Echeverri could have followed a similar path to the Brazilian centre-back. Instead, as CityXtra have reported, Echeverri’s representatives pushed for young attacking midfielder to join a club in the Champions League. That move has not worked out. Echeverri has spent the majority of this season on the bench and on the fringes of the Leverkusen starting eleven. Perhaps he wasn’t ready to play for a Champions League club just yet. Playing at Girona and playing regularly in La Liga would’ve been more beneficial. Barring a massive change, Echeverri is unlikely to become a first-team regular at Leverkusen.

It seems that the best move for Manchester City and Echeverri is for City to terminate his loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen in January. That way he can return to City and end his time at Leverkusen. Hopefully if that occurs a better loan move can be found for the young attacking midfielder. Whether or not that is something that Echeverri’s representatives will agree to remains to be seen. So far this season has been a waste for Echeverri as he has not made any impact for Bayer Leverkusen this season. The hope is that his time in Germany doesn’t stall his young career. Echeverri is a precocious talent and he needs to be playing to start to fulfil his obvious potential.