Manchester City progressing in contract renewal talks with defender after Chelsea transfer interest | OneFootball

Officials at Manchester City are reportedly progressing in their talks over a renewed contractual agreement with Academy graduate, Nico O’Reilly.

The 20-year-old midfielder has been on quite a journey with manager Pep Guardiola during the ongoing season alone, having first broken into the Catalan first-team sights during the pre-season tour of the United States last summer.

With Manchester City short on first-team options Stateside, particularly in the defensive midfield ranks due to Rodri’s extended break following European Championship success, Guardiola trialled a number of options in the role ahead of the competitive season.

Working alongside the likes of Mateo Kovacic in particular, Nico O’Reilly was thrust into the base of midfield to plenty of success during the camp in the USA, largely due to his physicality, presence, and ball skills. However, opportunities in the regular season were hard to come by.

That is until recent weeks, when Pep Guardiola has utilised O’Reilly as an attacking left-back, handing him his first Premier League start against Leicester, before naming the 20-year-old in his line-up at Old Trafford against Manchester United last weekend.

Both outings came off the back of a game-changing performance from the position against Bournemouth in the quarter-final stage of the FA Cup, as his assists against the south coast side booked a place for the club in the semi-final of the tournament.

Now, according to the information of transfer market insider Fabrizio Romano, officials at Manchester City are progressing in talks over new contract for the breakthrough Academy graduate as a direct reward for his remarkable development this season.

It is detailed that after rejecting approaches from Premier League rivals Chelsea during the last January transfer window, initial talks took place with City now confident of getting an agreement over the line.

With O’Reilly’s existing deal having a number of years remaining, Manchester City are in no rush to get anything finalised imminently, but are nevertheless working to make it happen for one of their brightest young prospects.

The increased determination to proceed with talks over a new deal also coincides the arrival of pending new sporting director Hugo Viana beginning work within the City Football Academy this week ahead of a full-time position in the summer.

The former Sporting director of football agreed to become the successor to Txiki Begiristain at Manchester City, after the Spaniard opted to bring an end to his time in the same role at the Etihad Stadium after 12 seasons at the club.

Begiristain and Viana are expected to work alongside one another over the course of the coming weeks and months to smoothen the transition from one director of football to another, after exemplary work produced by the aforementioned 60-year-old at City over the years.