Breaking News: I Didn’t Expect to Play at All for Man City—Now Pep Guardiola Wants Me as His Next First-Team Star!

 

 

Nico O’Reilly didn’t even expect to play on Manchester City’s pre-season tour this summer. Now he’s scoring against Barcelona and has impressed Pep Guardiola so much there’s a red carpet rolled out towards a first-team squad place next season.

With the majority of City’s attackers away on holiday after their international commitments, Guardiola has had to call upon a number of academy players to field a squad in the United States. He has seen youngsters step up over the last two summers, and it looks like this season is the year that O’Reilly makes his mark.

Against Celtic in North Carolina, he glided into the area and hit the side netting, before it was his ball across the box that ended up at the feet of Oscar Bobb to score. He was moved back from No.10 to No.8 against AC Milan, holding his own, and he was trusted in a double pivot in Orlando vs Barcelona.

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But he wasn’t content with protecting the defence alongside Mateo Kovacic. When City had a period of pressure, he timed a run into the box perfectly, collected Josko Gvardiol’s smart pass and finished back across goal to register his first strike for the club.

“I’m just living the dream really,” he tells reporters at the Camping World Stadium, after a third start of the tour. “I wasn’t expecting to play any, to be honest, obviously the manager has trusted me and I’m just trying to do my best.”

O’Reilly was speaking minutes after Guardiola had held the door wide open for him to join the first team set-up, ushering him through. “He’s a guy who will be a player,” the boss said in his press conference. “His maturity, with and without the ball, many things. He did many good things.

“I’m pretty sure he can help us and play with us. He can play the role of holding midfield, he can do it, if Rodri isn’t there. He can help us because he’s a player with a lot of quality.”

Guardiola urged patience with O’Reilly, who suffered a long injury lay-off last season to put the brakes on his progress through the age groups. He is in the same cohort as Rico Lewis, the pair starting out at City as six-year-olds.

O’Reilly is a two-time Under-18 Premier League champion (once as captain) and also has a Premier League 2 medal to his name. In 2023, he made headlines with a 90th-minute scorpion kick winner for the U18s, closely followed by a 40-yard lob in a Manchester derby.

Typically laid-back, he told MEN Sport at the time that the scorpion kick was just ‘instinct’. For the lob, he said: “I saw the ‘keeper off his line and tried it and it came off.” Just another day at the office.

The goals caught the eye of Guardiola, who called O’Reilly up to first-team training shortly after and made a point of congratulating him on his strikes. His academy coach, Ben Wilkinson, remarked that he ‘has a real high ceiling in terms of what his potential level could be’.

O’Reilly has had a difficult few years to get to this summer. His physical growth throughout his late teens quite literally put him off balance, affecting his coordination and in turn his football. Once he came through that, he hit form with his eye-catching goals and leadership, earning a place on the bench in the Premier League in 2023.

But last season he suffered a long-term injury and missed most of the season. Guardiola didn’t forget, however, calling him up to training and now to the pre-season tour.

“He was injured, a long injury last season. He came back, middle of last season and trains with us,” recalls Guardiola. “I said ‘wow. This guy is big’. Normally all the academy players are Rico Lewiss and Oscar Bobbs. This guy is good in the headers, so strong in the duels, small spaces. You will see him arrive in the positions, holding midfielder, attacking midfielder.”

It must be encouraging for O’Reilly to hear Guardiola praise his physicality and his versatility – but the truth is the Failsworth-born youngster had barely played in defensive midfield before stepping up against Barcelona.

“[Guardiola’s comments] mean so much, honestly, from the best manager in the world it makes me so happy,” O’Reilly says.

“The position is something new to me. I’m enjoying doing it but I’ll play anywhere, to be honest. We’ve done the same system since I was a baby so I do know what I’m doing there, it’s the same philosophy from the academy to the first team. It’s just about finding the pockets and trying to play my game.

“I don’t mind a challenge, put my body in the way, I’m a big lad, I’ve got a lot of muscle to put on yet, but yeah, I enjoy it”

O’Reilly credits John Stones, Kyle Walker and Phil Foden with helping his integration into the first team, and obviously his friend Lewis. He is keen to keep his feet on the ground while aiming high – but he’s still aware that he has a golden opportunity this summer.