A lot of Manchester City players have been away on international duty over the past week.
While some of City’s more prominent players have been in action for their countries, some of the Manchester club’s fringe players have also had the chance to get some minutes under their belt.
In fact, one player in Pep Guardiola’s ranks who has not been a regular on the pitch for the Blues so far this season has just delivered a performance on the international stage that will have definitely caught the attention of his club manager.
- Who is James McAtee? All you need to know about the Man City prospect aiming to impress Pep Guardiola
James McAtee delivered a top performance in latest England U21 match
Having been called up for the England U21 squad, James McAtee started and completed 72 minutes in their recent 4-1 friendly win over Austria’s U21 side.
Not only did the midfielder win the penalty that England scored to go 1-0 up after 25 minutes, he then went on to deliver the assist for the Three Lions’ second goal of the game before finding the back of the net himself shortly after.
During his time on the pitch, the 21-year-old racked up four key passes and two shots on target in total, in addition to winning three fouls for his side.
This highlights just how much of a nuisance he was for Austria and how much of a key role he played for his side in the game.
Overall, McAtee earned himself a very impressive match rating of 9.1/10 from SofaScore, making him the highest-rated player on the night.
Guardiola will be pleased with McAtee’s performance
Back in July, Paul Dickov claimed that McAtee is a perfect player for Guardiola and City due to his technical ability and how he can play in little pockets of space on the pitch.
For City, after completing 80 minutes against Manchester United in the Community Shield, the Englishman has only played one minute of action across City’s three Premier League games.
Having shown just how much he can impact games and be a constant attacking threat, McAtee will have now shown Guardiola just what he’s capable of when given the chance to play.
Even though it was a friendly game at the U21 level, the City manager should still be encouraged by what the midfielder delivered on this occasion.
