River Plate have spent months trying to bring the attacking midfielder back to Buenos Aires, without success while Pep Guardiola remained in charge. According to Soy del Millo, citing journalist Renzo Pantich, that dynamic has now shifted following Guardiola's departure and two loan spells that failed to fully convince City of Echeverri's readiness for the Premier League.
The process will begin with Echeverri reporting back to Manchester rather than heading straight into any deal, with his future only decided once Maresca has had the chance to assess him in person.
Pantich set out the situation clearly.
"Claudio Echeverri wants to return to River in this transfer window," he said. "His desire is to wear the River shirt again, although he must first report to Manchester City and learn Enzo Maresca's decision.
"If he isn't part of the plans, the possibility of a loan becomes stronger. Those around the player believe this is the ideal moment for him to return."
This is not River's first attempt. When the Argentine club tried to broker a return in January, City rejected the approach outright — Guardiola's view at the time was that Echeverri's development belonged inside the City Football Group network, gaining experience at sister clubs in Europe rather than stepping backward to South America.
That preference led to a loan at Girona instead of Argentina, following an initial half-season at Bayer Leverkusen that yielded just 11 appearances, only three of them starts.
Neither stint accelerated the 20-year-old's path into City's first-team plans, where he has made just three senior appearances since his £25m arrival from River Plate in January 2024, including his debut in last season's FA Cup final defeat to Crystal Palace and a goal against Al Ain at the Club World Cup.
Whether Maresca reaches a different conclusion remains to be seen, but the framing of this as the first major individual call of the post-Guardiola era suggests Manchester City's hierarchy see it as a meaningful early signal of how the new head coach intends to handle the club's crowded pool of young attacking talent.