Pep Guardiola appears to have a serious, serious young player on his hands at Manchester City.
Manchester City have started the new campaign quite well so far and are still yet to lose a game in any competition.
Despite losing Rodri to a season-ending injury and also not having Kevin De Bruyne for a number of weeks, City are sitting just one point behind leaders Liverpool in the Premier League table.
The club are also still in the Carabao Cup, and have taken four points from their first two Champions League games.
It is going to be a long campaign. And Pep Guardiola is likely going to be calling on many players this term as he will have to rotate.
So far in 2024/25, James McAtee has had to be patient for minutes.
But he’s made a real statement over the international break with the England U21s and might just have given Guardiola something to think about.
Man City gem James McAtee shines for England U21s again
Last week, McAtee made headlines for scoring two late goals for the Young Lions against Ukraine in a Euro qualifier.
The City starlet came in clutch, with England looking as though they were heading for defeat after trailing to a Taras Mykhavko goal.
But McAtee popped up with a late brace. First, he scored a stunning free-kick on the edge of the box, and then he pounced on a poor clearance to finish clinically.
McAtee was back in action for the U21s against Azerbaijan – and it was another lively performance from the City gem.
The 21-year-old then managed to get on the scoresheet once again, ghosting into the box and heading home Samuel Iling-Junior’s cross. That was the youngster’s fifth goal of England’s qualifying campaign.
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McAtee deserves more minutes for Man City
Many fans were delighted when Guardiola promoted McAtee to the first-team ahead of the 2024/25 season, along with Nico O’Reilly.
He had been brilliant in pre-season, and had shown great development over his two loan spells with Sheffield United.
McAtee has not seen a great deal of involvement so far for City at the Etihad Stadium – but this could potentially change soon.
| James McAtee for Man City (2024/25) |
| Appearances – 4 |
| Minutes played – 200 |
| Goals – 1 |
| Assists – 0 |
Undoubtedly, he has sent a big message to Guardiola with his exploits over the international break, and he arguably deserves to feature more.
McAtee impressed Kit Symons recently against Watford, and the star also did well coming on against Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League the following week, grabbing his first goal for the club.
McAtee has shown himself to be not only a great technician, but a goal threat and that could really work in his favour since Erling Haaland is scoring most of City’s goals this season.
