Guardiola reveals UNEXPECTED star he'd 'LOVE' to keep at Man City

Tom Weber

Updated: 25 Jan 2025 15:38 GMT
3 min read

Pep Guardiola has once again made it clear that he wants James McAtee to stay at Manchester City.

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The 22-year-old has found regular minutes hard to come by this season and there have been suggestions that Man City could suffer a repeat of their Cole Palmer blunder.

The England international, of course, left Man City in 2023 for Chelsea and has been one of the Premier League's best players since his move. McAtee is a similarly highly-rated youngster who is struggling for minutes at the Etihad.

The attacking midfielder previously impressed on loan at Sheffield United and, off the back of his stint with the Blades last season, Pep Guardiola insisted on keeping him in the summer. Despite this, he has only used McAtee sparingly, only giving him 500 minutes of competitive football.

Unsurprisingly, McAtee has been heavily linked with a January departure. Several Premier League clubs have expressed an interest, while numerous Bundesliga teams have also been pushing for him in recent weeks.

Guardiola wants to keep McAtee

However, if it were up to Guardiola, he would keep McAtee at Man City for years to come, as he once again reiterated ahead of Man City's clash with Chelsea.

"I'd love McAtee to stay," he said. "I was the one who relied on him to stay and to come back, to come back, to come back. I wanted him to stay! But what’s going to happen, like on potential new incomings, I don’t know."

Earlier this week, he struck a similar tone when he raved: “Wow! Such a good footballer, lovely guy. He has quite similar qualities to Phil [Foden], [that] sense of goal.”

“It’s not easy with not much minutes for confidence but he has personality. Hopefully, we can keep him for many, many years!”