Maresca: McAidoo is the kind of winger I love | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca says Ryan McAidoo has impressed him since the first day he arrived at City.

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The 18-year-old came off the bench to play a starring role in our pre-season opener with Inter in Hong Kong on Saturday.

Entering the pitch with the scores level, McAidoo proved a constant threat from the right flank, driving at goal and coming close to a winner twice in the final 10 minutes.

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It wasn’t to be, with the game ending 1-1 and City losing out on penalties.

However, Maresca made it clear after the game that he’s enjoyed what he’s seen from McAidoo over the last two weeks.

“We were speaking with the club and since day one I said he is the kind of winger I love,” he said.

“He is very aggressive one v one, he always tries, makes the right decisions. But he is very young and he needs the right path.

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Gallery: City's pre-season off and running

“If you look in the last the clubs I was part of, I always ask for those kinds of wingers.

“You have to do the right process but then you need players wide who can beat players one v one.

“Antoine [Semenyo], Savinho and Ryan were very good. We need to add more solutions for them and they will be better.”

Having made his City debut in last season’s FA Cup win over Exeter City before shining en route to FA Youth Cup glory, McAidoo has already enjoyed a landmark 2026.

He was just one of seven Academy graduates to feature in the game, with several more part of our squad for the three-match Tour.

Maresca says the club won’t make a decision on whether to keep young prospects at City this season or send them out on loan until we return to Manchester.

“At the moment, with most of the young players, the idea was to see them during pre-season and then decide,” he stated.

“We started ten days ago and Ryan is working well. We are going to take the right decision. I am always very open with young players.

“At Leicester, it was a record number of debuts from the academy and at Chelsea it was also record number of debuts from the academy.”

Watch our 2026 tour games on CITY+!

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After Saturday’s meeting with Inter, we’ll now head to Seoul to play a K League All-Stars side on Wednesday 5 August and then Atletico Madrid on Sunday 9 August. Both games begin at 12:00 (UK).

Each game will be available to watch on mancity.com and our official app for current CITY+ subscribers globally*.

Available for £34.99 annually or £9.99 per month, or unlock CITY+ as part of Premium Membership (£65/year), which brings together the best of City, in one membership.

*K-League All Stars v City: Globally available except South Korea 

City v Atletico Madrid: Globally available except South Korea, Spain 

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