Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that he intends to keep young talent James McAtee at the Etihad Stadium for the upcoming season.
The 21-year-old attacking midfielder impressed during City’s pre-season, starting in all four of their friendly matches. His impressive displays earned him a starting spot in the Community Shield clash against arch-rivals Manchester United, a match City won on penalties.
McAtee’s future was uncertain during the pre-season tour, with speculation that Guardiola was contemplating whether to keep him in the first team or send him out on loan or a permanent transfer.
Over the past two seasons, McAtee has been on loan at Sheffield United, where he played a key role in their promotion to the Premier League, scoring nine goals in 37 EFL Championship appearances. He returned to the Blades for the following season, making 30 Premier League appearances, although the club ultimately faced relegation.
However, Guardiola has now made it clear that McAtee will remain part of Manchester City’s first-team squad this season.
“It is difficult to find players with a sense of goal in small spaces who attack the final third, and McAtee has that quality,” Guardiola said. “That’s why I said to Txiki at the beginning of the season that I don’t want to loan him and I don’t want to sell him because I need his specific quality in small spaces. James has this ability.”
Guardiola also discussed McAtee’s initial pre-season performances, saying, “I have to see them and the first games I didn’t like it much and I told him afterwards: ‘Your impact in the game is not big, I want more.’ After, he did well and his impact was really good.”
“He is a player who came from the academy, he knows all the processes and how he moves in the pockets. His period at Sheffield United helped him a lot to give value and suffer to get points, physicality, win duels, this kind of stuff that normally they don’t do in the City academy. It helped him a lot playing there.”
