‘A strong stand’ – Enzo Maresca stops surprise Man City player from leaving, even though he’s only played five minutes in the Premier League.
Enzo Maresca has stepped in to stop a surprise Manchester City player from leaving the club during this busy summer of changes at the Etihad Stadium. City have already said goodbye to several players, with John Stones and Bernardo Silva among the first to leave after their contracts ended. These fan favorites had their farewell on the last day of the 2025/26 season, alongside Pep Guardiola.
Nathan Ake moved to Fenerbahce earlier this summer, but things have sped up with the big £65 million sale of midfield star Rodri and Tijjani Reijnders heading to Saudi Arabia’s Al Qadsiah for £52 million. City also sold Savinho for a record £85 million to Spurs, who are looking to sign Omar Marmoush too.
Maresca has said he’s open to letting players leave if they need more game time but, according to Soy del Millo, he’s made it clear that 20-year-old Argentine talent Claudio Echeverri will stay. Echeverri joined City from River Plate in January 2024 and stayed on loan there for another year.
Known as one of Argentina’s brightest young stars, Echeverri made his debut in the FA Cup final loss to Crystal Palace in May 2025. Guardiola surprised many by giving him minutes in that match and then in the Premier League game against Fulham the following week. After scoring in the Club World Cup that summer, he had a quiet loan period at Bayer Leverkusen, was brought back midway through the season, and then spent some time on loan at Girona.
Echeverri has been part of City’s pre-season but didn’t make the bench for the Community Shield game against Arsenal. Still, Maresca has taken a strong stand: Echeverri is not leaving and will get chances to play this season. River Plate had hoped to bring him back to Buenos Aires but now realize that won’t happen.
As City prepare to open the new season against Bournemouth on Sunday, they’re still looking to strengthen the squad, especially in midfield. Targets include Adam Wharton, Enzo Fernandez, and Ayyoub Bouaddi.
When asked about concerns over squad depth, since only Elliot Anderson and Geronimo Rulli have joined so far, Maresca said, “No, I’m not worried. From day one, we’ve known exactly what the team needs and we’re working closely with the sporting director and the club. There are 11 days left and a lot can happen. We don’t have a fixed number of players to sign—it all depends. After the last game, I said whether we win or lose, it won’t change how we think about the squad. We know what we need, and we’ll see what happens.”