Manchester City have announced that midfielder Claudio Echeverri has joined Benfica on a season-long loan. The summer transfer window in England shut at 11pm BST (5pm ET) on Tuesday. However, clubs in Portugal have until Tuesday, September 15, to complete their transactions.
This meant Echeverri's transfer to Benfica faced no immediate deadline pressure. Following his signing for the Portuguese powerhouse, the attacking midfielder revealed Ruben Dias ' influence in the agreement.
"When I was in Manchester , I met with Ruben Dias. He also spoke very highly of Benfica. He told me it was a huge club, that the people here are really great, that it has a great atmosphere for playing, the atmosphere of a truly big club," Echeverri said, as per the Manchester Evening News .
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"And the same was true of Bernardo Silva , who is a great player who played here. For me, he's one of the best players I've ever played with. And I listened to what he had to say, which made me even more certain that I wanted to come here. He said some wonderful things to me."
Echeverri made his City debut in the 2025 FA Cup final loss to Crystal Palace and also appeared in the season finale against Fulham . He would subsequently net his maiden goal for City in the Club World Cup victory over Al Ain in Atlanta.
Last campaign, the midfielder began the season on loan at Bayer Leverkusen but struggled to secure regular playing time. He then transferred to Girona in January.
Following his return to Manchester, he linked up with Enzo Maresca's pre-season touring party in Asia. He then remained on the bench as an unused substitute last Friday during the 4-1 triumph at Palace.
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City capped off a thrilling conclusion to the summer transfer window, with Enzo Fernandez and Iliman Ndiaye making the switch from Chelsea and Everton respectively, while Jack Grealish headed back to Merseyside on a loan deal.
