Taking into account the plethora of domestic trophies that Manchester City have managed to win and records they’ve broken over the past few years, it’s safe to say the club have their fair share of elite players in the squad.
Additionally, with a total market value of £969.57m, City have the most valuable squad out of any Premier League club at the moment according to Transfermarkt.
Away from their senior squad, one player that the Manchester club have in their youth ranks that we feel has the capability of becoming a future first-team star for them is 18-year-old attacking-midfielder James McAtee, who has recently been described as being an “intelligent player” by the City U23s manager Brian Barry-Murphy.
As a product of City’s youth system, McAtee has made 34 appearances for their U18 side, scoring 15 goals and nine assists as well as making 35 appearances for their U23 side in which he has managed to score 19 goals and provide 14 assists in the process, showing just how much of an impressive attacking outlet he has been.
McAtee has also made one appearance for City’s senior side which came during the club’s 6-1 win over Wycombe Wanderers in the Carabao Cup last month where he came on as a substitute in the second half.
Recently, it was reported that the Manchester club rejected an £8m bid from fellow Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion for McAtee, with Crystal Palace and West Ham also apparently keeping tabs on the teenager, which just goes to show how eye-catching he has been in terms of what he’s been doing on the pitch.
Looking ahead to the future, we feel that McAtee, who is currently valued at £450k according to Transfermarkt, definitely has the ability to continue his development at City and become a regular player in the senior team.
Do you think James McAtee will have a big future at Man City?
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With the number of goals and assists McAtee has managed to provide City’s youth teams, as well as being able to play in the central-midfield and centre-forward positions, we feel that the Englishman could well be a decent future replacement for Kevin De Bruyne. He has shown how much of an attacking threat he is for the club after scoring 69 goals and providing 107 assists in 269 games for City across all competitions, whilst also being able to play in similar positions as McAtee.
However, with De Bruyne’s current contract at City not set to expire until 2025, perhaps McAtee will have to make do with some sporadic first-team appearances for the time being, following a similar path as Phil Foden has done in terms of gradually making more first-team appearances as time goes on.
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