Manchester City are now expected to offload several players ahead of the 2025/26 season.
Manchester City kicked off their summer in a very lively manner, bringing in four players before the Club World Cup.
Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders and Marcus Bettinelli all came in, as City continued their rebuild, which started back in January.
But City now need to trim their squad, with Pep Guardiola famously preferring to work with a smaller pool of players.
James McAtee is expected to leave City, and has just been in Frankfurt to discuss a move with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Jack Grealish could also move on, but a loan move could be more likely.
In recent days, though, it was claimed that Nico O’Reilly had emerged as a potential target for Chelsea.
But it has since been claimed that Pep Guardiola wants to keep O’Reilly – and fans have been reacting to that suggestion on social media.
Man City fans delighted as Pep Guardiola decides he wants to keep Nico O’Reilly
O’Reilly was one of the big positives for City last term, in what was a very turbulent season.
He had been promoted to the first-team ahead of the 2024/25 season after impressing in pre-season, along with James McAtee, but no one really expected him to play too much.
But O’Reilly did get a good level of involvement in the end, especially in the second half of the season.
The 20-year-old is seen as a serious, versatile talent, and City fans are unsurprisingly buzzing, and also a bit relieved, by the claim Guardiola wants him to stay.
@LawsonPeac70791: “Yessss.”
@MaroAlex13: “Thank goodness.”
@MCFCDinho: “Oh thank goodness.”
@goldbergsnr: “That’s more like it.”
@hhhh_mcfc: “Needs to sign a new deal.”
- Who is Nico O’Reilly? Get to know the ‘phenomenal’ Man City starlet who has caught Pep Guardiola’s eye
Pep Guardiola will make the right decision by keeping O’Reilly
Hopefully, this update about O’Reilly is true and there are indeed no plans to offload O’Reilly.
City need to trim their squad, but O’Reilly is not someone who should be part of the mini exodus that is to come.
He is clearly an extremely talented young player, who has fantastic technical ability for a player that tall.
We saw him come in and do a great job at left-back last term, so there is versatility there that could see him come in really handy for Guardiola.
Obviously, we’ve all seen Cole Palmer’s explosion since leaving City.
O’Reilly feels like a player who, if he were to be let go, could have a similar thing happen. So this latest update is most welcome.
