Kolo Toure hails Manchester City star after coming-of-age Real Madrid performance | OneFootball

Manchester City assistant coach Kolo Toure has been delighted with Nico O’Reilly’s performances in the senior squad since his emergence from the academy.

O’Reilly burst onto the scene for his boyhood club last term and after impressing in a series of domestic cup competition appearances in the first half of the 2024-25 season, the City Football Academy graduate established himself as a regular starter in the first-team squad in the business stages of Pep Guardiola’s most challenging campaign at the Etihad Stadium.

The 20-year-old, who was rewarded with a new, long-term contract in September, produced match-winning performances in the Premier League and FA Cup for Manchester City last term – notably scoring the opener in a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Everton at Goodison Park in April – to raise his stock further in a side devoid of depth at left-back until this summer.

Rayan Ait-Nouri was brought in for £31 million from Wolves in June but O’Reilly’s performances out of position – with him being a natural midfielder – have kept the Algeria international struggling for minutes in the opening months of Manchester City’s transition from Txiki Begiristain to Hugo Viana.

O’Reilly has carried his fine run of form at left-back for City into the 2025-26 season, earning his first senior England call-up in the process and making himself a greater goal threat for a Blues side in desperate need of alternative scorers to Erling Haaland.

The Manchester-born star was also on the scoresheet in Madrid on Wednesday night as he notched his first UEFA Champions League goal at the Santiago Bernabeu to level proceedings before Haaland converted a penalty to secure all three points for City.

Speaking whilst standing in for Pep Guardiola in a press conference ahead of Sunday’s Premier League visit to Crystal Palace, Manchester City assistant coach Kolo Toure reflected on O’Reilly’s positional prowess and versatility that have been on show in the last nine months.

“He (O’Reilly) is an incredible young player, honestly. For me, his best position is left-back, for sure, because he’s aggressive, he wins like 50/50 balls all the time, technically he’s very, very good,” Toure said on Friday.

“And of course, I think the key thing for him (O’Reilly) was when you work in the Man City Academy, they teach you to play different positions because the learning that they have there is to allow them to get in the team.

“And if the manager needs to use you in different positions, you will be able to do it. And I think that’s down to the academy, in my opinion, to coach the players to be able to play different positions.

“We see that with Rico (Lewis), he can play in the middle, he can play right-back as well. And that’s fantastic. And what Nico O’Reilly is doing now is incredible and so proud of him. And his future is really, really bright.”

Toure joined Guardiola’s coaching staff on a permanent basis after a trial period working with the Catalan and fellow new recruit Pepijn Lijnders at the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States. The Ivorian has since played a fundamental role in overturning Manchester City’s fortunes in the backdrop of a disappointing, trophyless 2024-25 season.

On whether he has been working with Manchester City’s defence since his appointment to Guardiola’s coaching staff from the academy, Toure added: “Absolutely. Absolutely. As an ex-defender for me, I work very close to all the defenders, of course, you know, try to help them and to make sure they can get better, of course.

“And Ruben Dias is a fantastic defender with huge experience. He leads the team really, really well as well. And, of course, you know, our manager (Pep Guardiola), Pep Lijnders, they have big experience in that. We all try to work with everyone, of course.”

After missing pre-match media duties on Friday, Guardiola is set to return to the touchline at Selhurst Park on Sunday as Manchester City look to cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League back to two points – following the Gunners’ late 2-1 triumph over Wolves at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.