Latest news with #SouthAmericanUnder-20Championship
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Boca grows with its jewel: Gago praises Milton Delgado
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here. Boca Juniors won again, effectively resolving a difficult match in Santiago del Estero. The Xeneize extended a very positive streak in the Torneo Apertura, adding their fifth consecutive victory, and are now in second place in Zone A, one point behind Argentinos series of wins allows Fernando Gago's team to calm the crisis caused by their elimination from the Copa Libertadores 2025 at the hands of Alianza Lima, and start to leave behind the doubts and disappointment of that tough blow. 😁 El elogio de Fernando Gago para Milton Delgado — Planeta Boca Juniors (@PlanetaBoca) March 8, 2025 The Xeneize's incipient recovery, marked by a certain regained confidence and a more polished collective performance, is inseparable from the growth of some key figures. One can mention Marchesín, Ander Herrera, or Milton Giménez in the attack, but the pleasant surprise is that of the young Milton Delgado, who is consolidating himself in Boca's midfield, and whom the coach himself praised after yesterday's win. "He's coming from a lot of growth, both in football and personally" Gago expressed in the press conference. The 19-year-old midfielder has only 21 appearances in Boca's First Division, but plays with solvency and clarity. After his time with the Argentine National Team in the South American Under-20 Championship, where he was a starter for almost the entire tournament, Milton Delgado returned to Boca and established himself in Fernando Gago's starting eleven. 📸 ALEJANDRO PAGNI - AFP or licensors "He's in a good moment, in general" the coach insisted. "From a personal standpoint, from the level he competes at in each match, the level he shows in each match, it's a very good situation for me, because I have the possibility of elevating the level of all the players in that position". Gago also slipped in a warning: "He has to maintain his level, keep working in the same way. Today he had a great, a VERY great game" he concluded. 📸 Marcelo Endelli - 2024 Getty Images
New York Times
05-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Claudio Echeverri has arrived at Manchester City – what will he add and when might he play?
Manchester City made a fuss of Claudio Echeverri's arrival at the club. The 19-year-old was captain as Argentina finished second in last month's South American Under-20 Championship, and with six goals on the way to the final, his efforts warranted some fanfare. All smiles in his new home! 😃 🇦🇷 — Manchester City (@ManCity) February 27, 2025 He went straight into training with Pep Guardiola's squad last week and will spend the rest of the season in Manchester, although first-team action is not necessarily on the cards just yet. 'He arrived yesterday, he has good skills,' Guardiola said on Friday. 'Welcome, we're going to have him and we'll see. I don't know (when he will play), this is the decisive part of the season, every game is a final. Advertisement He then immediately started talking about upcoming games against Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion, giving an idea of how difficult it is for a new, relatively untested signing to slot in. 'Focus on that,' he added. 'In the end, we have long weeks to train and prepare well, everyone has to focus.' A few days earlier, Guardiola had said the youngster could feature 'maybe for the end of the season, maybe for the World Cup', referring to the inaugural Club World Cup this summer, so first-team football is a possibility, but there is going to be a patient approach from his new club. City and River Plate agreed to let him stay on loan in Argentina when they agreed an initial £12.5million ($15.9m) deal at the end of 2023, and at that point, the Premier League side did not expect him to make a sudden impact when he eventually arrived and that has not changed. The thinking all along has been that Echeverri will be given — and need — time to bed into the first team setup, with a loan elsewhere not ruled out either, depending on the speed of his adaptation. Comparisons with Julian Alvarez were somewhat inevitable when the deal was agreed because a) the transfer fees were similar, b) both came from River, and c) both were allowed to stay at the club before arriving in Manchester. But Alvarez was 22 and had played more than 100 senior matches, whereas Echeverri was 18 with just one senior start to his name. And while he clearly sparkled with his country at the recent under-20's tournament and now has over 50 senior appearances under his belt having broken into the River side, his form over the past 12 months has not matched the level of expectation in his homeland. The highlight reel of his goals and assists for Argentina Under-20s clearly demonstrates the talent City have secured: there are no cheap assists, with most usually coming after a mazy dribble or driving run (the only exception a well-weighted pass over the top of an exposed defence) and his goals are all very well taken — even the sole penalty was a Panenka against Brazil. But it would be fair to say that, so far, he stands out more in his own age groups — as he also did in the Under-17 World Cup around the time City signed him — than he does in senior football. He is very much a player who tries to attack whenever he gets the ball, which is usually in the No 10 position behind the opposition's midfield. He has a very good ability to wriggle out of tight spaces with quick footwork and body feints and that is something that helps him dribble well, which is probably his best quality. Advertisement He often looks to play through balls and his creativity is obvious just from those Argentina age group highlights, but he does lose the ball a lot, even accounting for the fact that even the best playmakers tend to give the ball away more than anybody else on the pitch. This was something that was evident from the available evidence 12 months ago and with far more senior matches under his belt, it is still a similar story. Defensively, there is still work to do, too, including when it comes to pressing opponents. Although the Argentinian league can be a brutal place, he had to toughen up physically to impose himself more on games and he may still be short of the level needed to shine in the Premier League. Breaking into River's first team was obviously an important step, but he did not consistently influence matches, as four goals and six assists in 41 matches in the most recent campaign suggests. River have endured a difficult year and in much the same way that few individuals have shone at City this season, Echeverri has hardly been in an environment conducive to showing his best form, but it does mean that he arrives in Manchester with plenty of work to be done on his game. It might be helpful here to establish some possible parallels. City signed two young centre-backs in January, with Abdukodir Khusanov already starting to show a good level after an admittedly torrid debut. The 20-year-old is still raw, but he has adapted well and has shown a passing range that was rarely given an opportunity to shine at Lens. While Khusanov has already played against Chelsea, Real Madrid, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, the other new arrival, Vitor Reis, 19, has been given a far more gentle introduction, with two starts against Football League opposition in the FA Cup. Reis and Echeverri actually captained their countries at that Under-17 World Cup in 2023 and sources say the Brazilian was signed with the intention of becoming a regular option for City in the coming years, albeit after an initial period of adaptation and a need to develop physically. Echeverri seems to slot in between Reis and, for example, Juma Bah, the Sierra Leone defender that City also signed in January but immediately loaned out to Lens. The 18-year-old could also spend next season on loan and he is not considered a viable first-team option in the way Khusanov and Reis are. Advertisement Unlike Bah, Echeverri will be in Manchester and will always have a better chance of finding a place in the team, but then there is the example of James McAtee, who has been at City since he was 10 and has had two years of senior English football with Sheffield United. He has struggled to get game time for Guardiola, even when the midfield looked run into the ground at the end of last year. In terms of Argentinian mid-season signings, Echeverri might be more similar to Maximo Perrone than Alvarez, at first, anyway. The latter arrived at the age of 22, settled immediately and contributed to huge success for club and country. Perrone signed from Velez Sarsfield a year after Alvarez and a year before Echeverri. He actually made his Premier League debut a month later, before playing again in the FA Cup, but although he was highly regarded by the City coaches, he has spent the last two seasons on loan. He has the technique to fit in at City but maybe not the physical profile. It is not that Echeverri does not deserve the fanfare around his arrival, nor that he is destined for years spent on loan away from City. He has a lot of quality and, perhaps like Khusanov, he may be able to develop his game quickly in a new environment. But there is an acknowledgement that he will need time to fully break into the City team despite their woes this season because of his relative inexperience and because Guardiola generally experiments far less after February — something he has already alluded to when discussing the 'finals' coming up. City are pushing for a top-four finish rather than the title this season and perhaps those lower standards might present an opportunity for Echeverri, but it might not be until the more experimental Club World Cup setting that their latest arrival can showcase his talents.
Associated Press
27-02-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Argentina youth star Echeverri joins Man City a year after signing from River Plate
Argentina youth international Claudio Echeverri has completed his permanent move to Manchester City, more than a year after signing for the English champion before returning to River Plate on loan. The 19-year-old Echeverri will add more youthful energy to an ailing City squad which was freshened in the winter transfer window with the arrival of five mostly young players. Echeverri, an attacking midfielder, has just been playing in the South American Under-20 Championship, where he netted six goals in nine games for Argentina to be the second highest scorer in the tournament. He signed for City in January 2024 but played for River for the past year as part of the agreement. Txiki Begiristain, City director of football, described Echeverri as 'one of the finest talents to emerge from South America in recent years.' 'Football has been my life,' Echeverri said, 'and my dream was to play for one of the best teams in Europe. Today I am closer to that dream. 'Manchester City are one of the best teams in the world. Not only do they win trophies, they play the game so beautifully.' Echeverri has signed a contract until 2028 and will be part of City's squad for the remainder of the season. City manager Pep Guardiola said last week that refreshing the squad that won the last four Premier League titles might mean the departure of injury-prone stalwarts who are struggling to cope with soccer's demanding schedule. ___
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
🤔 Marcelo Gallardo on River's Transfer Market: "We Remain Hopeful"
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here. Millonario's coach did not rule out the possibility of bringing in a new striker after Agustín Ruberto's serious injury in the South American Under-20 River's great victory over Independiente, where Marcelo Gallardo's team had their most outstanding match in 2025, the coach exposed different particular situations within the institution to the press. First, he was asked about the absence of Agustín Ruberto, River's young striker who suffered a serious knee injury in the South American Under-20 Championship, "I had the opportunity to talk to him," Gallardo confirmed. "He was having a very good tournament. He's a kid we had very much in mind and we were waiting for him to join us when the South American Championship ended, to give us another variant. A kid who seems to have a lot of time in the First Division and is only 18 years old. I mean, nothing. I tried to give him encouragement in this difficult moment, telling him that we will be with him, accompanying him, and he will recover, and he will come back stronger. That's the wish," he deepened. ⚪🔴 Marcelo Gallardo en conferencia habló sobre la dura lesión de Agustín Ruberto y se refirió a la posibilidad de buscar un delantero para su reemplazo.🗣️ "No es fácil el mercado a esta altura del año porque todos los equipos están en competencia. Ir a buscar futbolistas es… — TNT Sports Argentina (@TNTSportsAR) February 9, 2025 In that sense, Marcelo Gallardo was asked if there was a possibility that River would look for someone in the market to replace Agustín Ruberto, who would be out for six to eight months. "It's not easy in the market at this point in the year, mainly because all teams are in competition. Looking for players at this moment not only requires a very important outlay but also a very limited search. I don't think anything will happen, unless some opportunity arises. We have some more open windows for the players who have left. We remain expectant about that," he recognized. River plays again this Wednesday against Godoy Cruz in Mendoza for the fifth round of the 2025 Opening Tournament of the Professional Football League (LPF). 📸 Marcelo Endelli - 2025 Getty Images
New York Times
07-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Manchester City add three to Champions League squad but no place for Vitor Reis
Manchester City have registered three of their new signings in their updated Champions League squad — but there is no place for defender Vitor Reis. Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez and Abdukodir Khusanov have all been added, while Claudio Echeverri, who signed from River Plate in January 2024 before spending the year back on loan with the Argentine club, has also been left off. Rodri has also remained in the squad despite suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in September, with the midfielder aiming to return before the end of this season. Advertisement Echeverri, 19, was always unlikely to be registered due to his participation in the ongoing South American Under-20 Championship, where his matches with Argentina overlap with the Champions League play-offs. UEFA rules state that teams can only make three changes to the squad between the league phase and knockout stage, meaning that at least two of the five winter arrivals would miss out. The timing of the registration window has meant that City's January additions have been made to wait to make their European debut for the club. The new Champions League format means that there are two league-phase games during the winter transfer window. This means that Echeverri, Khusanov and Reis were unable to feature against PSG or Club Brugge, despite joining the club before both games. Marmoush was also unavailable for the latter. GO DEEPER Champions League projections 2024-25: Who will lift the trophy in Munich on May 31? City's squad is capped at 23 players due to the club not having eight 'locally-trained' — trained in England — players in the squad. Teams are still allowed to play in the competition without hitting this target, but the squad size is reduced by the amount that a club misses the quota. Joshua Wilson-Esbrand's loan transfer to Stoke City means that Pep Guardiola's squad are now two under the required amount. Players under the age of 21 and who have been at the club for a three-year uninterrupted period, such as Rico Lewis, can go on the 'B List' and do not need to be registered. City entered the window looking for reinforcements across the pitch. Guardiola's side signed Khusanov from Lens in a package worth €40million (£33.7m; $40.8m) plus bonuses on January 20, before adding Reis from Brazilian club Palmeiras for an initial fee of €35m the following day. Marmoush enjoyed a stellar first half of the campaign for Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt before joining City, registering 20 goals and 14 assists in 26 appearances in all competitions. The Egypt international started City's last two Premier League games against Chelsea and Arsenal. Advertisement Nico joined from Porto on deadline day in a transfer worth €60m. City had been looking for a midfielder during the window after Rodri's ACL injury suffered earlier in the season left them short in that department. Echeverri signed for City in January 2024 from River Plate but spent the remainder of the year on loan at the Argentine side. GO DEEPER Lethal on the break, runs behind and a passing option: What Omar Marmoush brings to Manchester City ()
