Man City may have an even bigger talent than O’Reilly in teen “gamechanger”

Manchester City avoided two Premier League losses in the same season against Manchester United for the first time since 2019/20 on Sunday afternoon. Pep Guardiola’s side drew 0-0 with their cross-city rivals in one of the more boring Manchester Derbies in recent memory.

Neither side had any real chance of note. For City, Omar Marmoush came closest to breaking the deadlock, forcing Andre Onana into a save from a free kick and then a powerful long-range volley. Joshua Zirkzee had United’s best chance and might have nicked the three points late on, had it not been for a superb close-range save from Ederson.

It was a game of little quality throughout, although there were a few City players who stood out. One of those was youngster Nico O’Reilly.

O’Reilly’s performance vs. Man United

There were certainly not many players across the board for City who really seemed like they would make the match-winning difference at a sunny Old Trafford. However, 20-year-old O’Reilly was certainly one of them.

Once again playing at left-back despite being a midfielder by trade, the youngster brought composure and technical quality to the City side. As per Sofascore, the 20-year-old had 63 touches, completed 81% of his passes and played one key pass.

City defender Ruben Dias was complimentary of O’Reilly’s performance in one of the biggest games in English football. The Portugal international said he “did well and he helped us a lot”, before praising his mentality and quality.

It has been a breakthrough campaign for the Manchester-born City academy graduate. He has played 12 times for the first team this season, scoring three goals and grabbing two assists. On top of that, the youngster has shown impressive versatility, playing at left-back, centre-back, as a winger, a midfielder and up front.

O’Reilly seems like he is the next of a number of talented academy graduates to establish themselves in the City first team. They have even more players to break through, too, including one attacker who has impressed this season.

Man City’s next talented academy graduate

Aside from O’Reilly, the likes of Phil Foden and Rico Lewis have become established City academy graduates in recent years. Perhaps the next on that list will be 17-year-old attacker Divine Mukasa.

Described as a “game changer” by football scout Antonio Mango

, it has been a sublime season for the City youth sides in 2024/25 for Mukasa. In 35 games across all competitions, he has 17 goals and grabbed 25 assists.

In games in the under-18s Premier League in which he has registered a goal involvement, there have been only five occasions in which he has managed just one. The London-born attacker is simply a goal machine.

Mukasa is a player with exceptional technical ability. Take this recent goal he scored for City’s youth side against Wolves’ under-18s in a game where he scored two and assisted one in a 3-0 win. The composure with which he feinted around the defender twice before slotting home was impressive.

Mukasa’s talent has not only been recognised by the Citizens, but he has also played for England under-18s. So far, the City attacker is yet to score or assist in his five caps, but has made three starts already.

There is no doubting Mukasa’s talent. His England honours, plus numbers for City, are enough to tell that he has excellent potential. City will surely be hoping that, in the next few years, he can break into the first team and become the next academy graduate to establish themselves.