Revealed: Why Manchester City repurposed Nico O’Reilly from midfield to left-back | OneFootball

A new report has explained Manchester City’s reasoning behind Nico O’Reilly being moved from midfield to full-back at the start of the season.

O’Reilly has been one of Pep Guardiola’s best performers this term and after breaking into the first-team setup last season, the 20-year-old is on course to start for England at left-back at the FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico this summer.

The Manchester-born star has already clocked 2,800 minutes of first-team football this campaign and after being rewarded with a long-term contract till 2030 in September 2025, the City academy graduate has gone from strength to strength and is one of the first names on Guardiola’s teamsheet.

Rayan Ait-Nouri, who joined Manchester City from Wolves for £31 million last summer, has impressed at left-back since his recent return from injury and the Africa Cup of Nations – and that has provided O’Reilly the chance to revert to his preferred, natural position at left-back.

O’Reilly has spent a majority of his time under Guardiola operating at left-back but as Manchester City search for greater inspiration and leaders in the middle of the park, the youngster has been tried in midfield of late.

It takes a lot to be deemed good to play in midfield for Manchester City under Guardiola, ask Matheus Nunes and Kalvin Phillips. The former joined the Blues after being deemed as the best midfielder in world football by Guardiola – to only make the right-back position his own.

Manchester City remain at a nascent stage of their transition under director of football Hugo Viana, who has spearheaded a major revamp of Guardiola’s squad upon his appointment in the wake of a dismal 2024-25 season for the eight-time Premier League champions.

City are four points adrift of Premier League leaders Arsenal and are still in the running for a historic quadruple – alongside Arsenal – and Guardiola will be leaning on his best players, including O’Reilly, to step up a few gears in the business months of the season.

As part of a wide-ranging Q&A conducted by Simon Bajkowski of the Manchester Evening News, it has been revealed that Manchester City envisioned O’Reilly reverting to a midfield role at the start of the 2025-26 campaign, having spent his first six months under Guardiola largely at left-back.

However, a poor start to the season, underpinned by defeats to Tottenham and Brighton in August 2025, saw Manchester City position O’Reilly back at left-back, with Matheus Nunes also establishing himself as the first choice right-back since.

Guardiola is understood to have recently allowed O’Reilly to move into midfield as City gained some stability in midfield, coinciding with the return of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri after an injury ravaged 18 months.

Manchester City progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup by seeing off Salford City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and O’Reilly is expected to start when the Blues return to Premier League duties against Newcastle United this weekend.