So far, Manchester City’s loan of Claudio Echeverri to Bayer 04 has been disappointing for all sides. Now the option for the English club to bring the attacking player back early in the winter has taken effect. Whether the club would find a replacement is another question.
When Bayer loaned Claudio Echeverri from Manchester City in the summer, high expectations were placed on the 19-year-old. But now, after only one start and five substitute appearances in the Bundesliga, the creative player is facing an early departure. The Skyblues, who would have preferred to loan the talented player to FC Girona last summer but then transferred him to Leverkusen at the insistence of Echeverri’s agent, would like to see the Argentine U-20 international at a club where he can get more playing time.
The conditions for ManCity to terminate the loan have been met
The English club can terminate the loan early during the winter transfer window if Echeverri does not meet a specified amount of playing time. The statistical requirements for this have now certainly been met. In the remaining games, the Gaucho, who made two starts in five Champions League appearances for Bayer and collected one point, can no longer reach this contractually fixed playing time in Leverkusen, meaning that the Bundesliga club cannot prevent the dribbler’s early departure.
However, this is not a major problem for the club, as the technician has not played a major role so far. Even without Echeverri, coach Kasper Hjulmand would still have more than enough candidates for the two number 10 positions with Alejandro Grimaldo, Malik Tillman, Eliesse Ben Seghir, Jonas Hofmann, Martin Terrier, and Ibrahim Maza, who has recently been used exclusively as a defensive midfielder.
With a new player coming in, competition in the center will increase anyway
If Bayer had not turned things around in the Champions League, making elimination after the group stage a foregone conclusion, and if they had not progressed in the DFB Cup round of 16 against BVB (1-0), those in charge would have had to think about how to reduce the squad. But now that the club is still in contention on three fronts, the bosses have to weigh up whether to sign a replacement for Echeverri.
Since Bayer wants to sign an attacking player for the right side in the winter anyway, a player like Nathan Tella, who mainly plays on the wing, would also be available for more central tasks if successful. Hofmann, who has recently been helping out permanently on the right, would then be back in contention for the right-half position.
Bayer will not automatically sign a replacement for Echeverri in the winter
It is therefore quite possible that Bayer will not react to Echeverri’s premature departure. Unless, that is, favorable circumstances arise on the market, in which case Leverkusen would simply have to seize the opportunity to sign a player in anticipation of the summer, as this would no longer be feasible for the club later on. However, there is no automatic mechanism whereby Echeverri’s departure would be immediately followed by the signing of a new creative force.
