James McAtee offered Manchester City return hope by Pep Guardiola after Nottingham Forest transfer | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted that despite the club selling him this weekend, James McAtee has the potential to star at the Etihad Stadium.

McAtee completed a long-awaited £30 million move to the City Ground last week after captaining the England U-21s to European Championship glory in the summer, when he snubbed the chance to play for Guardiola at the FIFA Club World Cup.

Having played a bit-part role in the Manchester City first-team squad last term, the 22-year-old sought a platform where he will get access to regular senior minutes, having pushed for a move away from the Etihad Stadium in January amid interest from Germany.

After four consecutive title-winning campaigns, Guardiola and City endured a sobering 2024-25 campaign as they finished trophyess and recorded their lowest points tally in the Premier League, finishing third in the table behind Liverpool and Arsenal.

Having spent a few successful years on loan at Sheffield United, McAtee was named part of Manchester City’s senior squad by Guardiola last summer as he sought to break into the senior squad of his boyhood club after two years at Bramall Lane.

However, Guardiola restricted opportunities for the Salford-born attacking midfielder in the first half of the season, with McAtee only making his full Premier League debut in a 5-2 victory over Crystal Palace in April, when the Englishman scored after rounding Dean Henderson.

City have overhauled their dressing room this summer and following the marquee arrivals of Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki, McAtee sought an exit to guarantee first-team opportunities to progress his development away from the Etihad Stadium.

Having explored his options in Germany amid interest from Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt, the City academy graduate has decided to stay in England after completing a £30 million transfer to Nottingham Forest.

Reflecting on the move at the weekend, Guardiola insisted upon his feeling of wanting to retain McAtee at Manchester City, who have added sell-on and buy-back clauses for their academy product within his contract at Nottingham Forest.

“I would love to have Macca (James McAtee) with me but it’s the same; we have too many players and he wants more minutes and he believes that if he goes to another place he will have it. And I understand completely,” said Guardiola.

“Macca (McAtee) has the potential to be with Man City, yes or yes! But sometimes he wants more minutes and it’s fair enough, we cannot give it, and he wants another space.”

Manchester City made a blistering start to their 2025-26 Premier League campaign with a 4-0 thumping of Wolves at the Molineux Stadium on Saturday, with new signing Tijjani Reijnders running the show and assuming the role of architect-in-chief following the summer departure of Kevin De Bruyne.