FC Barcelona continue to hunt the market in hopes of finding the next big thing. The new philosophy that the Catalan giants follow promotes the signing of rising starlets being incorporated into the team rather than bidding extreme values for established stars.
However, even the challenge there is not an easy one for the Blaugranes. The youngsters in question being monitored by Barça are all seen as prodigious talents, and understandably have other clubs interested in them as well. Yet, one of the most advanced reported negotiations involves a certain Argentinian prodigy.
Claudio Echeverri, aged 17, is an attacking midfielder for River Plate. With a contract in place until December of 2024, many clubs in Europe are currently after the prodigal Argentine’s signature. However, Barcelona in particular seem to have hit a dead end.
Echeverri reportedly has a release clause of €25 million, and FC Barcelona were hoping to pay upwards of it with a different approach. However, according to Fabrizio Romano, that may not be possible for Barcelona to do given the differences with what River Plate wants.
As per the Italian journalist, the Argentinian club is more interested in receiving an amount upfront. Due to this, clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City are in a better place to make advances for the player’s signature. On the other hand, Romano claims that the situation for FC Barcelona is more complicated.
Yet, FC Barcelona does maintain a certain advantage over the others. Echeverri is a great fan of Lionel Messi and has publicly admitted his desire to one day play for Barcelona. As such, the deal is not exactly done and dusted yet, and it remains interesting to see how FC Barcelona advances from here.
