After Manchester City were narrowly beaten 3-2 by AC Milan, Pep Guardiola was full of praise for a certain young talent.
Guardiola lauded Oscar Bobb’s display after the clash — praising him for how terrific he is in tight pockets of space.
The Manchester City boss was also left impressed by triallist Amar Fatah’s showing.
It seems like the £378,846-a-week man was in a mood to take the positives from the game, despite his team ending up on the losing side in New York City.
One player who looked the part once again in his boyhood club’s contest against AC Milan was James McAtee.
Pep Guardiola hails James McAtee after Man City lose to AC Milan
Recently, Guardiola revealed that he intends to keep McAtee in City’s first-team next season.
The 21-year-old certainly did nothing to impede his chances of that being the case — scoring an important equaliser in the second-half.
The Englishman ghosted into the box and headed in Micah Hamilton’s cross to cap off what was yet another impressive performance from him.
Pep Guardiola lauded McAtee while debriefing how Manchester City fared against AC Milan.
Guardiola said via BeanymanSports: “Better than the previous game. He moved really well, attacked really good, the box. I think the right side today with Oscar [Bobb] and Macca, they were brilliant in the first-half, really good.”
Interesting to see how many minutes James McAtee gets next season
Against both Celtic and AC Milan now, McAtee has showcased that he is ready to play in City’s first-team.
The youngster — described by Guardiola as “special” via The Star — meets the required technical and tactical standards to be a Manchester City player.
But amongst a plethora of top midfielders, how many minutes McAtee gets will be interesting to see.
The Salford-born attacker will be keen to be given more than a bit-part role.
However, the 2024/2025 campaign is perhaps a footballing lesson in waiting for McAtee on the standards he requires as both a player and a character to play for the Sky Blues’ senior side.
