Not even a James McAtee hat-trick against Brugge helped Manchester City under-19s to win the Youth League, which ended up falling 3-5 against the Belgian team. However, the young pearl of the Citizens continues to add great performances this season. With his third hat-trick of the course, added to the 10 goals he accumulated in 9 games he accumulated in the league championship with the Manchester City under-23 team, this 19-year-old midfielder, who in England is already nicknamed the ‘David Silva of Salford’He is not only knocking on Pep Guardiola’s door, but on that of the great teams in Europe.
The British newspaper Daily Mail informs that in addition to the clubs that have shown interest in the team’s youth squad Skyblue, among which are Ajax, Atlético de Madrid or Liverpool, teams like FC Barcelona or Manchester United would be monitoring and closely following the player. Although James McAtee is one of the main stars of the Manchester City quarry, his contractual situation has led to the great teams of the continent not losing sight of the ‘new Silva’: McAtee, with a market value of 500 thousand euros on Transfermarkt and international with England under-20, contract ends in June 2023 and has not yet renewed with the Citizens.
But more than becoming a new ‘Jadon Sancho case’ or the possible “World War” that would cause the “robbery” of James McAtee by Manchester United, what really “worries” on the Skyblue side of Manchester is the broken blade to follow with some of the pearls from its quarry. With Phil Foden as a mirror in which to look to burn stages in the lower categories of Manchester City, the 19-year-old midfielder, facing his future in the first team, faces footballers such as Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Bernardo Silva or the youth squad Citizen himself.
However, as this medium points out, Pep Guardiola “is a declared admirer” of James McAtee and “is willing to reward the young man with more playing minutes”. That is why, after rejecting numerous loan requests during the last summer transfer market and faced with the difficulty of finding an optimal accommodation for him to develop his great conditions, “Guardiola spoke positively about the desire that players like McAtee stay and learn together to your staff “, says the Daily Mail. Even Brighton, as reported The Athletic last month, he bid £ 8m for him. But it is that Manchester City is not willing to part with ‘David Silva de Salford’.