Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given supporters a rough timeline as to when they can expect to see their new signing, or at least their latest arrival, make his first appearance.
The Blues wrapped up the January transfer window with four major signings: their new attacking number seven, Omar Marmoush (who has already bagged a hattrick on his home debut) promising defensive duo, Abdukodir Khusanov and Brazilian Vitor Reis, as well as their ‘mini-Rodri’, Nico Gonzalez.
However, the club has had another late arrival who was technically signed back at the start of last year but who has spent for the last 12 months or so loaned back to his previous parent club, River Plate in Argentina, waiting to make the move over to the Etihad Stadium – and now he’s here in Manchester.
Speaking on his touchdown in 0161, Pep said Claudio Echeverri won’t be thrown into first-team action straight away but did give a rough estimate as to when City fans could expect him to get involved. You can see him discussing the integration plan in his post-match press conference following the Spurs win.
The mention was only brief but there’s still plenty of reason for Man City fans to be excited by the late January signing.
“Yeah, he [Claudio Echeverri] is going to start to train and mainly will be for the end of the season, maybe the [Club] World Cup and as soon as possible [that] he arrives he can adapt quick for the future.”
As mentioned, the 19-year-old Argentinian attacking midfielder from Resistencia officially put pen to paper with CFG back in January 2024 and was quickly dubbed ‘the next Messi’.
Now, although the football world is often quick to jump the gun with these things and he isn’t the first and certainly won’t be last to be slapped with this premature title, he’s done more to back up these claims since then than he has rubbish them.
Starring at the 2025 Under-20 South American Championships, netting six goals in nine games to finish the tournament as the second highest scorer thanks to notable braces against Brazil and Uruguay as the young Argentine’s finished as runners up.
He also notched 48 senior appearances for River Plate thus far, netting four goals and grabbing eight assists in that time, not to mention having already captained his national team at the 2023 Under 17s World Cup, where he scored another five.
Safe to say there’s plenty of talent to be tapped in this lad.
Once again, Echeverri won’t go straight into the senior set-up for a little while yet, barring a major injury crisis, but he’ll be a more than exciting addition to the City Football Academy and for future first-team lineups for years to come.
Who knows, maybe he’ll be included in an FA Cup matchday squad? Nevertheless, you can expect him to not just come of the bench but hopefully show what he can do at the Club World Cup this summer.
City‘s first fixture as reigning champions of the competition will be against Moroccan side Wydad AC on 18 June 2025.
You can watch Echeverri’s first full interview as a Man City player down below:
The new Man City signing is excited to be finally be part of the club 13 months on from agreeing his contract.
Kalvin Phillips is reportedly set to be reintegrated into the Manchester City squad
Danny Jones
Long-exiled Manchester City player Kalvin Phillips is reportedly on the verge of being reintegrated into Pep Guardiola’s squad this season.
The ex-Leeds United star, who signed for the Blues back in 2022, has still only made just 16 appearances for the club, but could now be eyeing up a potential renaissance.
Man City have made plenty of signings this year, but with a number of outgoings and several injuries in key positions, it looks like there could be an avenue for the one-time England international to fight his way back into the team.
As per Telegraph Sport‘s Mike McGrath, Kalvin Phillips is set to be reintroduced to City’s 25-man Premier League selection; the question is, can he make it into a first-team XI?
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Kalvin Phillips has chance to resurrect career at the Etihad Stadium after failed loan spells with Ipswich and West Ham
According to McGrath, Phillips will be “given a chance to resurrect his career at the Etihad Stadium” with the meat and potatoes of the 2025/26 campaign still yet to get properly underway.
Now 29, the Yorkshireman is well and truly within the crucial ‘prime’ years as an athlete, and after such an extended period on the sidelines, he’ll be more motivated than anyone to get his career back on track.
The central defensive midfielder – who was formerly considered a key cog in the middle of the park for Leeds – has spent two loan spells away from the Etihad, but neither really worked out for the undeniably talented footballer.
Having joined West Ham for the latter portion of the 23/24 term and spending the last 12 months on loan at struggling Ipswich Town, his time at both clubs was pretty forgettable, punctuated by little more than a couple of unfortunate red cards and more time on the bench.
Speaking to Sky Sports fairly recently, he confessed that the last couple of years have been very difficult and was visibly emotional discussing his struggles since moving to Man City.
It’s also worth noting that Guardiola himself has admitted to feeling “so bad” for Kalvin Phillips’ situation – perhaps why he now looks like he could be given a second chance.
CDM-wise, Rodri and Nico González are considered the go-to options, but Stockport-born Rico Lewis and Mateo Kovačić have also been used in the role.
Once again, although Man City face somewhat of an injury crisis ahead of the Manchester derby this weekend, any prolonged absences could at least see an opportunity arise for the forgotten man.
What do you make of Kalvin Phillips’ chances of being restored to the Manchester City squad and maybe even putting himself back into national team contention ahead of the World Cup?
Featured Images — Sky Sports (screenshot via YouTube)/pantkiewicz (via Flickr)
Sport
Manchester United are now investigating the curious case of… the missing boots?
Danny Jones
Manchester United Women have been left with work to do in their Champions League qualifier and might need to have a word with kit staff too, as the administration is now said to be investigating how a bag of boots went missing ahead of the crucial match.
Now this is the sort of stuff you really couldn’t write…
Yes, unbelievably, global footballing giants Man United had to quite literally pop to the shops to buy new football boots after a reported 13-15 pairs were lost before their first leg against Norwegian side, SK Brann Kvinner.
As per the likes of The Athletic and The Guardian‘s women’s football writer, Tom Garry, the majority of the players were left without anything to play in, resulting in the travelling squad having to go and buy replacements.
Manchester United were defeated 1-0 by Brann in the Women’s Champions League third qualifying round on Thursday after some of the squad’s football boots were lost on the way to Norway.
During the side's journey to the city of Bergen, where Brann are based, for the first leg of… pic.twitter.com/NjyaalHinJ
Citing Reuters as his primary source, Garry detailed how a bag containing several players’ boots disappeared during the journey to the game in Bergen on Thursday evening.
As a result, United are now investigating exactly how the boots went missing.
Marc Skinner’s side went on to lose the game by a single goal scored a quarter of an hour from the end in the third qualifying round, but remain confident they can turn the tide in the decisive knockout tie upon returning home to Leigh Sports Village on 18 September.
They are said to have arrived at a local shop, Torshov Sport, around three hours before kick-off (4:30pm local time), grabbing 15 pairs of boots and 20 sets of shin pads in total. Speaking to BBC Sport, owner Andre Gullord said they paid nearly £4,000 for the last-minute kit haul.
“We are a big store, but they were very lucky we had enough boots in stock that were the right size”, he said, adding that “they paid between £200 and £230 for each pair of boots and £30 for the shin guards.”
Quipping that they catered to the odd native player in the past but never a full team, he went on to joke: “Maybe we should have told them we only had boots with no studs to help the local team!”
It does give frantic pre-match Sunday league antics, doesn’t it?
city not getting bunnys visa, our plane catching on fire and united boots going missing oh i love the chaos of wsl in the uwcl https://t.co/mNTh83p0av
Many supporters have found it hard to believe how a sporting organisation as huge as the Red Devils can find itself in such unlikely circumstances.
Then again, unexpected and as yet inexplicable stuff like this can happen to anyone – even a sporting franchise as established and well-staffed as Manchester United.
It wasn’t all chaos and frustration, though; not only was it a record-breaking night in terms of attendance, but another plus was the midfield play from new signing Jess Park, who joined in a sensational swap deal with rivals Man City on deadline day. You can see the highlights from the game HERE.
🙌 16,019 at Brann Stadion 🇳🇴
A new attendance record for women’s football in Norway and for any UEFA women’s club qualifier 🤩#UWCLpic.twitter.com/YtlScWXewt
Danny Jones -
27th February 2025 
