Man City make Jeremy Monga pre-season decision as Enzo Maresca assesses new attacking arrival | OneFootball

Manchester City’s latest signing Jeremy Monga is set to join the club’s pre-season tour of Asia this summer, with a decision on whether the 17-year-old remains in Enzo Maresca’s squad for the 2026-27 season or heads out on loan yet to be determined, as per a new report.

Jeremy Monga joined Manchester City from Leicester City earlier this week on a five-year contract running until the summer of 2031, in a deal worth up to £12.5 million that saw director of football Hugo Viana beat Arsenal – the long-time frontrunners for the winger’s signature – to one of the most coveted young talents to emerge from English football in recent years.

The 17-year-old arrives at the Etihad Stadium having already demonstrated the pace, dribbling and eye for goal that made him such a sought-after prospect, with the winger having made his Premier League debut for Leicester last season while also becoming the youngest Premier League 2 goalscorer in the competition’s history at 15 years, three months and 22 days.

Monga made 27 appearances for Leicester in the Championship in 2025-26, contributing one goal and two assists before the Foxes suffered relegation to League One – a demotion that accelerated the club’s need to raise funds through player sales and ultimately handed City the opportunity to complete a deal they had been eyeing for some time.

Maresca himself played a significant role in convincing Monga to choose the Etihad Stadium over other suitors, having worked with the teenager at Leicester during the Italian’s title-winning 2023-24 campaign with the Foxes – a personal familiarity that gave City a decisive edge in a race that Arsenal had led for much of the summer.

Report: Monga to experience pre-season alongside Man City’s senior stars

According to Alex James of the Manchester Evening News, Monga will travel with Manchester City on their pre-season tour of Asia this summer, giving the 17-year-old his first sustained experience of training and working alongside the senior players who will form the core of Maresca’s squad for the campaign ahead.

The inclusion of a player so recently signed and so young in a senior pre-season programme is a clear signal that the club view Monga as more than a straightforward academy investment, and that Maresca is actively interested in assessing the winger’s readiness for a higher level of involvement than a conventional development loan might suggest.

James reports that the question of whether Monga remains with Manchester City for the 2026-27 season or is sent out on loan has yet to be resolved, with the Asia tour understood to be providing Maresca and Viana with the opportunity to assess the teenager at close quarters before any final decision on his pathway is taken.

The precedent within City’s recent approach to young signings would suggest a loan move is the more likely outcome, with the club having consistently used temporary departures to give talented teenagers a platform for consistent senior football rather than a peripheral role within the first-team environment – but Monga’s profile and the specific involvement of Maresca in his recruitment may yet point toward a different conclusion.

What does Monga’s Asia tour inclusion mean for Man City’s winger options?

The possibility of Monga remaining at the Etihad Stadium beyond pre-season carries genuine significance in the context of Manchester City’s search for a new winger – with Viana and Maresca said to want a player capable of dribbling and creating chances with passes – attributes that sit squarely within the profile Monga has already demonstrated at youth and developmental level.

Maresca’s personal knowledge of the winger from their time together at Leicester will inform the manager’s assessment of whether Monga is ready to contribute at senior level now, or whether the right call is to send him to a club where consistent minutes are guaranteed rather than earned in competition against established internationals.

Phil Foden‘s trajectory through the City academy remains the club’s most celebrated example of a young player developed patiently within the first-team environment rather than dispatched on loan, and while comparisons at this stage would be premature, the reference point Monga himself made to Foden’s pathway upon signing his contract suggests the teenager is at least open to the prospect of a similar development model.\

Whether the Asia tour gives Maresca sufficient evidence to keep Monga in his senior squad, or whether the pre-season assessment confirms that a loan move offers the better developmental environment at this stage of his career, is a question that the coming weeks will answer – but the 17-year-old’s inclusion on the trip makes clear that Manchester City intend to give him every opportunity to make that decision as difficult as possible.