Manchester City complete late summer transfer exit for left-back | OneFootball

Joshua Wilson-Esbrand has embarked on his latest loan move away from Manchester City as he aims to progress his top-level professional playing career.

City’s forgotten prodigy, as he has been labelled on social media in recent days, Wilson-Esbrand was touted as one of the club’s brightest defensive academy products after impressing in a 6-1 win over Wycombe Wanderers in the Carabao Cup in 2021.

The London-born full back progressed his career with regular first-team opportunities at Cardiff City and Stoke City in the seasons that followed, but there remain serious doubts over Wilson-Esbrand’s future at the Etihad Stadium as he embarks upon another loan spell in the final two years of his current Manchester City contract.

Rayan Ait-Nouri’s £31 million arrival from Wolves in June has alleviated Pep Guardiola’s long-standing issues at left-back, with Josko Gvardiol playing out of position to shoulder an overwhelming majority of the workload in the position in his first two seasons at the Etihad Stadium.

James McAtee – who belongs to the same academy age group as Wilson-Esbrand – pursued a permanent exit from Manchester City for regular first-team football this summer, joining Nottingham Forest for £30 million.

Manchester City’s stance on a fresh deal for Wilson-Esbrand remains to be confirmed, with the Blues expected to keep a close eye on the young Englishman in Poland amidst a period of significant transition at the Etihad Stadium following a significant squad revamp this summer.

Should he impress this season, Wilson-Esbrand could have suitors in the Premier League and with academy stars not afraid to part ways with their boyhood clubs to take control of their careers in their own hands, a permanent departure next summer is quite likely.

As things stand, City are not expected to give Wilson-Esbrand a new deal and will look for a permanent buyer in 2026 to avoid the risk of losing the young Englishman on a free transfer when his current deal runs out in 2027.

Confirmed in a statement from Manchester City this week, Josh Wilson-Esbrand has joined Polish Ekstraklasa division side Radomiak Radom on a season-long loan for the 2025/26 campaign, subject to international clearance.

The 22-year-old joins a club eighth in the top tier of Polish football after seven matches so far this season, while the move follows developmental spells in various tiers of English football as well as the French top-flight.

After recovering from an injury that forced the Algerian off in the first-half of Manchester City’s 2-0 defeat to Tottenham in August, Ait-Nouri returned to the starting XI against Brighton and Hove Albion.

Ait-Nouri impressed in pre-season and his ability on the ball is on point with what Guardiola expects of his full-backs but it has to be said that there is significant room for improvement in the 24-year-old’s defensive faculty.