Candidate to succeed Wirtz
©IMAGO
Man City homegrown James McAtee certainly imagined his first season as a full member of Pep Guardiola’s squad differently. Although the Citizens are stumbling like never before under the master coach – recently only one win from 13 games – and numerous players are injured, the attacking midfielder has so far managed two minutes in the Premier League. According to the “telegraphMcAtee could be saying goodbye in January and a Bundesliga trio is said to be among the numerous interested parties in and outside of England.
The paper names Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen along with Florence and Bologna as well as Nottingham, West Ham, Brentford and Crystal Palace as clubs that are closely following the England U21 international’s situation. At Bayer he could follow in Florian Wirtz’s footsteps as soon as he takes the next step.
McAtee wanted to do this at Manchester City this season and rejected offers from England. He played on loan for Sheffield United for the past two years, was promoted with the club and made 30 appearances in the Premier League in 2023/24. For the Blades he was directly involved in 22 goals in 75 games as a central, attacking and right midfielder as well as behind the strikers, as a right winger and as a center forward. Over the course of the loan, he increased his market value from 3 million to 12 million and most recently increased it to 14 million euros.
From Man City to the Bundesliga: Long list with Sancho, Nmecha, Matondo & Co.
While McAtee plays virtually no role at the Citizens, he is likely to be a playmaker for England’s U21s at the European Championships in June 2025. Further in their development are his ex-City colleagues Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa), Roméo Lavia (Chelsea), Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Southampton) and James Trafford (Burnley), who are finding their luck away from Guardiola searched and found. McAtee’s contract ends in 2026 and despite the lack of playing time this season, Guardiola hopes that the homegrown player will stay. However, Man City has also been considered interested in signing Wirtz for a long time.
If McAtee moves to Germany, he would not be the first player from Man City or from the series champions’ youth team to take this route. In the past ten years, Jadon Sancho, Yan Couto, Jayden Braaf and Denzeil Boadu (all for BVB), Angeliño (RB Leipzig), Felix Nmecha and Lukas Nmecha (both VfL Wolfsburg), Ko Itakura (Gladbach), Leroy Sané ( FC Bayern), Pablo Maffeo (VfB), Matija Nastasic as well as Rabbi Matondo (both for S04) and Javairô Dilrosun (Hertha). From transfer flops to top transfers, everything was there for the receiving clubs.