Chelsea reportedly saw an enquiry for Nico O’Reilly knocked back on transfer deadline day and Pep Guardiola admitted Manchester City made a ‘good decision’ to keep the starlet. The 19-year-old midfielder was a surprise starter at left-back for their FA Cup fifth round tie against Plymouth Argyle on Saturday. But the youngster stole the headlines with two vital goals in a 3-1 win at the Etihad Stadium to seal their place in the quarter-finals.
O’Reilly glanced home from a Kevin De Bruyne corner before arriving at the far post to head past Conor Hazard from a corner. De Bruyne then wrapped up the tie late on with a close-range finish. His double and impressive all-round performance saw him voted man of the match. But he might not have even played if things had happened differently in January after Chelsea made an approach for the highly-rated talent only four weeks ago. The Blues reportedly made a move on February 3 as Enzo Maresca sought a new midfielder to sign before the transfer window shut.
However, City turned down their approach as they ‘didn’t want to lose control’ over the player, according to Fabrizio Romano, and the west London club signed Mathis Amougou instead. Appearing to confirm that City had rejected a switch for the teenager, Guardiola said of O’Reilly staying: “Sometimes you take a good decision, otherwise, he would not to score two goals.”
It appears the Catalan has grown tired of watching his City stars impress elsewhere, having been left to regret selling Cole Palmer to Chelsea 18 months ago and offloading Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal in 2022.
Guardiola also blocked James McAtee’s exit after Bayer Leverkusen reportedly submitted a bid in December. Like O’Reilly, the 22-year-old started against Plymouth and has been increasingly involved of late – having been largely unused in the first half of the season.
City have sold youngsters to other Premier League clubs for reasonable fees. However, it usually comes with the caveat of a buy-back clause being inserted into the deal.
They sold Romeo Lavia to Southampton for £15million in 2023 and earned a chunk of his £58m transfer fee when he signed for Chelsea after declining the option to re-sign him.
A similar arrangement is in place for Liam Delap, who joined Ipswich Town for £20m last summer but can be bought back for £40m under the terms of the agreement.
Delap has scored 10 goals in the Premier League this season and has attracted interest from Chelsea, Tottenham and a host of other clubs. And it appears that the Premier League champions will once again make a tidy profit on one of their academy graduates.
But it appears O’Reilly has been earmarked to have a bright future at the Etihad, and his two-goal heroics would’ve surely only increased his popularity with Guardiola in that respect.
