After instilling discipline in his academy players in the United States, Pep Guardiola will be adding two new first-team players to Manchester City.
Following a summer filled with international competitions, Guardiola sent a young Manchester City squad to the U.S. while most of his senior players were still on break. Despite expressing frustration over his limited ability to experiment with new ideas, Guardiola sees the benefit of working with City’s top young talents and observing their performance in a first-team environment.
The manager has now reduced his earlier plan of adding five or six young players to the roster down to just two: James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly.
Building on his goal against Barcelona, O’Reilly received further praise for his impressive performance against Chelsea, marking his fourth start of the summer. McAtee, in addition to his goal against AC Milan, also contributed two assists in the second half.
Guardiola commented, “Each game showed improvement over the last. Erling Haaland and Kalvin Phillips have both matured. Jack [Grealish] has had some excellent performances. Oscar [Bobb] has been outstanding alongside Rico [Lewis]. McAtee is realizing his potential today. Nico also performed exceptionally well.
“All the young players had their chances. Stephen [Mfuni] made his debut at 16 today. Everyone got involved in the play. Some players will go on loan, while others will remain with the first team. I hope they will return next season.”
“O’Reilly and McAtee will both be part of the first team. The others are not yet ready to join us; they will need to be with the second team or go out on loan. Their development will determine their future roles, as it always depends on their progress.”
