James McAtee's seemingly inevitable exit from Manchester City means that the club will never see the "real" version of the 22-year-old.
McAtee's lack of game time was a hot-button topic during the 2024-25 campaign, where the former Sheffield United loanee was only granted three starts in the Premier League.
The playmaker did make a solid 27 appearances overall - scoring seven goals - but the Manchester Evening News claims that he has been left out of City's Club World Cup squad in order to represent England's Under-21s at the European Championships instead.
The Sky Blues' decision suggests that they are willing to sever ties with McAtee, although ex-defender Richard Dunne believes that the club would have only unlocked the best version of the midfielder had he been handed more starts in big matches.
Asked by Sports Mole whether McAtee could still have a future at Man City, Dunne replied: "I think he does. He needs more games, more trust from the manager in big games before you start to see the real McAtee coming out. Whether he gets that or not is another thing.
'No way' McAtee leaves Man City without replacement
© Imago
"He'll want to be playing more than he is. He had a really good season at Sheffield United a couple of years back and proved to himself that he can do it in the Premier League, and now it's about doing it in the Champions League and the higher levels."
McAtee would not have competition from Kevin De Bruyne next season if he was to stay in Manchester, but the Citizens are expected to pursue a direct replacement for the Napoli-bound Belgian.
City dropped their interest in Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz, who is now edging closer to a move to Liverpool, but they are said to have struck an agreement to sign AC Milan's Tijjani Reijnders.
At the same time, Dunne does not expect City to let McAtee go without identifying a successor, adding: "Whether he's ever going to be a consistent first-team player [for Man City], I'm not sure.
"Certainly at the level of Kevin De Bruyne, that's a difficult one to compare him to. But I think City would find it difficult to let him go without finding an adequate replacement.
"He's a really good player. There's not many around that can do as good as he can do. But whether he's happy enough to be the third-choice or second-choice central midfielder is another thing. There's no way he'd move without City having a replacement, I would have thought."
Where could McAtee end up this summer?
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Finding a new stomping ground is not expected to be an issue for McAtee during the summer transfer window, as there is said to be interest in the Englishman from clubs in the Premier League and abroad.
Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur are said to be keeping tabs on the situation, and the former's interest raises the prospect of a potential part-exchange deal involving Morgan Gibbs-White.
However, Bundesliga quartet Eintracht Frankfurt, RB Leipzig, Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund are also rumoured to have shown an interest, and McAtee would be open to a move to Germany.
City have apparently slapped a £25m price tag on the head of the 22-year-old, who only has one year left to run on his contract with the Premier League giants.
Richard Dunne was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of talkSPORT BET.
Ben Knapton
