Nico O’Reilly ‘has changed Pep Guardiola’s view on football’ with Man City urged to avoid “stupid” transfer decision

Manchester City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany believes that Nico O’Reilly may have ‘changed Pep Guardiola’s view on football’ and the Citizens would be “stupid” to let him leave the club this summer.

The 20-year-old academy graduate broke into Guardiola’s first team during the second half of last season and impressed as a makeshift left-back, particularly excelling in the FA Cup en route to the final.

O’Reilly chipped in with five goals and two assists in 19 appearances across all competitions for Man City last season, before featuring twice at the FIFA Club World Cup earlier this summer.

Man City’s No.75 is naturally a midfielder and contributed to 33 goals (18 goals, 15 assists) in 37 Premier League 2 games for the club’s Elite Development squad before stepping up to the first team, but speculation over his future at the Etihad Stadium has surfaced this summer.

While O’Reilly seems to be far down the pecking order for regular football in Man City’s midfield at present, the summer arrival of Rayan Ait-Nouri has provided more competition for places at left-back, with Josko Gvardiol also capable of playing in that position.

Recent reports have claimed that Premier League and Bundesliga clubs are showing strong interest in signing O’Reilly on loan and are prepared to offer him regular first-team opportunities, but Man City are said to be planning to keep him this summer.

“There are so many reasons” for Man City to keep O’Reilly

Aware that Guardiola is keen to trim his squad ahead of next season, McInerney is strongly against the prospect of O’Reilly leaving Man City this summer.

“I think it'd be insanity and stupidity, infuriating stupidity to let Nico O'Reilly leave Manchester City Football Club,” McInerney told Sports Mole. “If you had a project in terms of what you wanted to create as a footballer from the academy, it's him.

“If you wanted to create someone for modern football in 2025, you'd want someone technically excellent, someone tall, strong and powerful to deal with the physicality, someone with pace, someone versatile who can play multiple positions.

“This kid was a false nine at times in the academy, now he's playing at left-back. 20 years old, strong as an ox, massive, a goalscorer as well, he's got a goalscorer's eye, he probably would accept a squad role right now as well, as long as he plays 20-30 games in a season.

“He's the archetypal player that you want to produce from your academy, he's got so much potential, so likable, and once again given the homegrown situation, stupid to let him go. It'd be so incredibly short-sighted. We're rebuilding the squad towards a younger age demographic.

“Every single box is ticked with Nico O'Reilly. Immediate impact, clearly has the confidence, clearly has the height and physicality, clearly has the technical ability, fits the homegrown squad situation, he's versatile, he can score goals, fearless, there's just so many reasons to keep him, it would be stupid to loan him out in my personal opinion.

“At some point, City will go ‘No you're staying here, you're going to play regularly’ and I think that's what is going to happen."

“O'Reilly might have changed Guardiola's view on football”

McInerney believes that Guardiola has changed his opinion on the use of Man City’s academy players in his senior side and that has largely been thanks to the rise of O’Reilly since his breakthrough at the Etihad.

“There's some reports that Guardiola's very happy with O’Reilly and rates him, and I actually think Nico O'Reilly might have even changed Guardiola's view on football,” said McInerney. “Guardiola's been very reflective...he felt an urge to protect young players and not throw them into big games, because he doesn't want them to get swamped and not handle the situation and for it to affect their development.

“But what he's learned is every time he does put a young player in, they handle it really well and I think it's because they're fearless and because - this is my interpretation - if you play for Man City, you're already playing for the best. When you play for Man City at Under-18 level or you play for England at Under-20 or Under-21 level, you're playing for teams that win, teams that play in the biggest games at that level.

“You play and expect to win trophies and that's what they do, so they're used to winning, it's what they do. It's why they're at Manchester City in the first place because their mentality is good enough to win.

“I think Guardiola's realised actually these young lads are not scared. [James] McAtee's not scared, Rico Lewis is not scared, Phil Foden was not scared, Nico O'Reilly is not scared and he's said multiple times that he has the size and the physicality - he's got everything.

Man City would be “stupid” to let O’Reilly leave this summer

“Guardiola is genuinely impressed by him and I think the impact he had on the team, particularly in the FA Cup game against Bournemouth when he came on and changed the game, you can't ignore that.

“I think there's been a rethinking of Guardiola's mentality towards younger players. Nico O'Reilly's probably made him sit up and realise that these kids can handle it a little bit.”

“I think it'd be stupid to let him go. He's too talented, he's a City fan as well from Manchester, that stuff does matter, I'm sorry, it absolutely does.

“People can say it doesn't matter where they're from, to an extent that's right, but if you're a City fan and you're playing in a big game, a Champions League final, it's what you dreamt of as a little kid. I refuse to believe that that wouldn't give you extra motivation. It's just inherently human to care more about the club that you supported as a child and that would be your prime motivation."

McInerney is confident that O’Reilly will stay at Man City and he could be joined at the Etihad by “extremely confident” Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford, who is being linked with a return to the club that he left just two years ago.

O’Reilly tipped to stay at Man City and develop into future first-team regular

“If we want a proof of concept for the academy players, you could look at two wonderful development paths: James Trafford coming back after that move, saying you can move and we will buy you back if you're good enough, and Nico O'Reilly being this lad who's taken his time a little bit and forced his way into the squad, like Lewis and Foden have done.

“[O’Reilly has] shown that actually if you're good enough and you're smart enough and you work hard enough, you can be involved in one of the best teams in world football, too. Two very viable routes there.

“Nico O'Reilly is a ball that cannot be dropped, because he's staring us in the face. I think he will stay, I think City will use him a lot. I think he will be the backup and the alternative to Ait-Nouri at left-back.

“He doesn't want to play there as such, but he'd be stupid to move in my personal opinion because if you play at left-back for City, you're playing left wing, centre-midfield anyway, you're playing so close to the forward line, so I think he'll stay.

“I think he'll play a lot of games, 20 to 30 games, his minutes will go up, he'll probably play some games in midfield in cup games as well and he'll probably do well there.

“A year from now, his game time will double again and two years from now he'll probably be a regular starter for City, as other players move on.”

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Written by
Oliver Thomas