Man City complete deal to sign 'the next Lionel Messi' after beating Barcelona and Chelsea to future star

Manchester City have agreed their first January transfer, having announced the signing of Argentine wonderkid Claudio Echeverri from River Plate.

City, along with a slew of clubs, have been heavily linked with the 18-year-old and have now confirmed his arrival, with the Blues reportedly paying around £12.5 million for his services.

He has penned a deal until 2028 but much like with compatriot Julian Alvarez, Echeverri will remain with River until the end of 2024.

Echeverri has played six times for River's first-team after being given his debut by former City player Martin Demichelis.

In his first outing, the attacking midfielder registered an assist in a 3-1 win.

Echeverri is a regular for the Argentina Under 17's, scoring 13 times and captaining them at the recent Under-17 World Cup.

He secured the bronze ball as the third top scorer and has also trained with Lionel Scalini's senior squad.

Image: Getty

He follows Argentines like Alvarez, Demichelis, Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and Pablo Zabaleta in signing for City.

The transfer is the final one to involve chief football operations officer Omar Berrada, who is joining rivals Manchester United as their new CEO.

The Athletic say he spent time "working long, hard and successfully on a challenging deal" and there was no suggestion that it would be his final transfer.

Echeverri joins a long list of players to be compared to eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi.

Image: Getty

And the prodigy has already gone on record to say that he has ambitions to play for Barcelona one day.

As per The Sun, he said: "As well as River, I would like to play for Barca," he said

"I’m a big fan of Messi and I used to watch him play for Barcelona, so I’ve had this team inside me since I was very young."