Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola has confirmed that he wants to keep fringe playmaker James McAtee at the club for the 2025-26 season.
The 22-year-old belatedly made his first Premier League start of the season in last weekend's home clash with Crystal Palace, and he justified his selection with a goal in that 5-2 comeback win.
McAtee had been restricted to 11 substitute cameos before that hard-earned start, though, and he has only been granted 217 minutes of top-flight football all season, fewer than three full matches.
The midfielder's long-term future has naturally been called into question owing to his lack of Premier League game time, as well as the fact that he enters the last 12 months of his contract this summer.
Teams in both the Premier League and abroad are said to have taken an interest in McAtee's situation, and the 22-year-old is said to be 'very interested' in joining one Bundesliga club in particular.
Guardiola calls on McAtee to stay at Man City
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However, speaking to the press ahead of Saturday's Premier League battle with Everton at Goodison Park, Guardiola openly wished for McAtee to stay at the Etihad and insisted that he could not be doing anything more for an increase in playing time.
"For the age I would like him to stay. I understand, the players want more minutes I understand that," Guardiola said. "I would like him to stay, he's an Academy player, he knows the patterns, he's a lovely person, a lovely guy.
"He trains really good, plays in different positions. I like him but with the squad, it's how we finish and we will see. We haven't seen it [from James] this season because I didn't allow him to play minutes.
"I cannot ask anything from these types of players when they do not play a lot of minutes. They could do better? No. Macca has this quality, he could've scored four goals [against Palace]. He has the ability to create chances, he is there."
McAtee has been on the books at City ever since joining as a youth player in 2013, and he now boasts seven goals from 31 appearances for the Premier League champions in all competitions, as well as an identical goal tally from 18 England Under-21 caps.
Is McAtee the answer to Kevin De Bruyne departure?
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A versatile attacker, but one who tends to thrive in the central areas - whether that be as a number 10 or false nine - McAtee is currently learning from one of the best in the business in Kevin De Bruyne.
However, the Belgian's golden 10-year stint at the Etihad will officially come to an end this summer, removing one more roadblock in McAtee's pursuit of regular first-team football.
City have of course been tipped to splash the cash in search of a De Bruyne successor - Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz and Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White appear to be the two main targets - but Guardiola is already well-stocked in that area.
McAtee can play there, Phil Foden can play there, Omar Marmoush can play there and Jack Grealish can play there, although the latter's future is also not set in stone given his own lack of Premier League starts in 2024-25.
Nevertheless, if McAtee stays to compete with Marmoush and Foden for the coveted spot just off Erling Haaland, Man City may not need to spend millions on a direct De Bruyne replacement.
Ben Knapton
