Oscar Bobb provides honest truth on ‘guaranteed starter’ claims for Manchester City | OneFootball

Manchester City winger Oscar Bobb believes he is not a guaranteed starter under Pep Guardiola despite his successive starts for the club so far this season.

The 22-year-old has started in each of Manchester City’s opening trio of Premier League games this term – a dominant 4-0 beating of Wolves, a 2-0 defeat to Tottenham and a 2-1 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion before the international break.

Bobb spent nearly the entirety of the 2024-25 campaign on the sidelines courtesy of recurring injuries, which commenced in the days after the Oslo-born star’s crucial role in Manchester City’s Community Shield triumph over Manchester United in August 2024, when Bobb suffered a leg break in training.

The Norway international returned to first-team training in the spring of 2025 but a hamstring problem prior to Manchester City’s 2-0 win away at Everton exacerbated Bobb’s troubles, delaying his much-awaited return to the pitch off the back of a breakthrough 2023-24 campaign and impressive pre-season campaign last summer.

City have added Savinho, Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki to their wide attacking ranks in the last 12 months, with the likes of Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Jeremy Doku also providing direct competition to Bobb in his preferred right-wing position.

However, Guardiola has given Bobb a consistent run of starts since pre-season, though patience is always a virtue when it comes to young players breaking into the first-team squad from the academy ranks, with inconsistencies and spells out of form commonplace in a high-stress environment such as professional football.

A common undercurrent of criticism faced by Manchester City’s wide attackers in recent season is a worrying lack of attacking output, with Erling Haaland shouldering the entirety of the goalscoring burden since Julian Alvarez’s £82 million departure to Atletico Madrid last summer.

However, Guardiola has handed Bobb the perfect chance to nail down the right wing position and it can’t be ignored that Manchester City are not necessarily blessed with world-class wide attackers in their current squad as such – with the days of Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez long behind the club.

Speaking in a new interview with Norwegian outlet Dagbladet whilst on international duty, Bobb has offered some insight into his relationship with Guardiola, also responding to suggestions that he is now a guaranteed starter for Manchester City.

“It’s great. It’s always nice. Yes, good (his relationship with Guardiola). He’s a very nice guy. We have a professional relationship. He’s nice,” Bobb said, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness.

But on the subject of his starting place in the current Manchester City side, having started all three of the club’s opening matches in the Premier League this season, Bobb is taking nothing for granted. “It’s quite early. We’ve had a few injuries in my position,” the forward added.

“I wouldn’t say I’m guaranteed anything. I don’t see myself as someone who has that spot completely. When I come back now (after the international break), I focus on what I’ve always done. It’s everyday life, and training to get back into the team.”