Pep Guardiola confirms two new Man City first team players

Pep Guardiola has made the decision on which young players will join his first-team squad next season, having taken a number of academy players on tour to the USA.

Pep Guardiola will return to Manchester with two new first team players after running the rule on his academy players in the USA.

Guardiola took a youthful Manchester City squad to the States with most of his senior players still on holiday following a summer of international tournaments. While he has repeatedly expressed frustration that he cannot implement new ideas on tour, Guardiola insists one positive is the chance to run the rule over City’s best young talent to see how they act in a first team environment.

The manager had previously said he wants five or six young players to supplement his squad, but has now revised that to just two – Nico O’Reilly and James McAtee.

O’Reilly earned praise again for another impressive performance vs Chelsea on his fourth start of the summer, building on his goal against Barcelona. And McAtee got two assists in the second half to add to his goal against AC Milan.

“Every game was much better than the previous one,” said Guardiola. “Kalvin [Phillips] grew up, Erling [Haaland] grew up. Jack [Grealish] makes an incredible few games. Rico [Lewis] has been unbelievable with Oscar [Bobb]. Today McAtee makes his potential as a football player. Nico as well, played a high level.

“All the young player make some minutes. Today I make a debut for Stephen [Mfuni] at 16 years old. Everyone played. Some players will now be with the first team, some with the second, some for loan. Hopefully next season they’ll come back.