From ankle surgery to next best virtuoso – how Nico O’Reilly is becoming Pep Guardiola’s next untouchable  | OneFootball

For Manchester City supporters, players, Pep Guardiola and his coaching staff, the 2023 UEFA Champions League final concluded with the most explosive of celebrations. 

After becoming only the second English team to win a historic treble, there was a bus parade attended by 200,000 City fans who lined the streets – while Jack Grealish claimed he hadn’t slept for days and even reported to England training hungover.

And those celebrations, minus the alcohol, would have lasted for a long time before focus in the squad switched back onto the forthcoming campaign. But for Nico O’Reilly, reality quashed any hope for linear progress from there onwards.

Though he wasn’t part of City’s senior squad in the treble-winning season, the positivity around the club at all levels undoubtedly fortified the relationship and bond between the players and coaching staff – as Guardiola’s side became undoubtedly the best in the world.

Yet, shortly after the win in Istanbul, O’Reilly suffered his first significant injury in the form of serious ligament damage, which came with a fractured ankle bone that required surgery, meaning he only played nine games that season. 

It was a thorn in the side for everyone involved given the now 20-year-old had a tally of 13 goals and 14 assists at the end of the preceding season, where he often played in attacking midfield – his only position at that point since joining the club at the age of eight.

In the treble season and while still in the youth setup, O’Reilly helped City win a third successive Premier League 2 title and was really the only player in that team that was almost guaranteed to advance to the senior squad. 

After all, the midfielder-turned-defender chose Manchester City over Manchester United because he thought the club’s training facilities and sessions were better – and impressed enough while he was still in primary school.

He was scouted by four Premier League sides and even ended up being one of a handful of academy prospects picked out to meet Guardiola upon his arrival to the City hot-seat in 2016. 

And it is the influence that Guardiola has enjoyed on the defender that has thrust him into the senior squad over the last 18 months – after making his debut against United in the 2024 FA Community Shield. 

“Last season, he was unbelievable when he came in. He’s a top, top player! He’s ductile; he can play in three, four positions,” Guardiola said of O’Reilly in September 2025 after his side ran out 2-0 winners over Napoli in the UEFA Champions League group-stage.

“He has to improve, but defensively – I would say the point that was maybe a little bit weak when he arrived to us from the academy – he grew up a lot. His presence in set pieces, one-against-one, and with the ball he’s really good – and he arrives good in the final positions. He’s hopefully a player for many years as well.”

Perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of O’Reilly’s ascent is the variety of skillsets he possesses, becoming one of the most versatile players in the Premier League this season. 

Having come through the City Football Academy as an attacking midfielder, he was quickly shifted by Guardiola to the left-back role, where his talent has only been enhanced. He has since registered debuts in the Carabao Cup, UEFA Champions League and FA Cup, where he also scored his first senior goal against Salford City in January 2025.

O’Reilly’s influence didn’t lessen but improved drastically and further goals against Plymouth Argyle, Crystal Palace and Everton in the second half of his first season under Guardiola meant his stance in the first-team consolidated, making 21 appearances in a largely successful maiden term with the senior group.

It is without question that O’Reilly has become the answer to City’s long-standing frailties at left-back and after making his England debut in November, wherein which he performed excellently, it will certainly take some competition to be subsided in Thomas Tuchel’s FIFA 2026 World Cup plans.