Nico O’Reilly: Manchester City’s Next Academy Star.

Phil Foden remains the ultimate poster boy for Manchester City’s academy. Labelled as the local lad who rose through the ranks to become a fully fledged Premier League superstar. Now, a new name is beginning to echo through the Etihad: Nico O’Reilly. Having progressed through every age-level group at City, O’Reilly has been the brightest buzz from the academy over the past two seasons.

This season, he’s taken another leap forward in his progress. Under Pep Guardiola, O’Reilly’s impact has an impressive statistic attached to it. City have not lost a game this season when he starts. Looking back at last season, the only two games that City lost when he featured were in domestic cup competitions against Crystal Palace (FA Cup final) and Spurs (EFL Cup). Beyond the statistics, his impact on the pitch has been visible for fans to appreciate in 2025/26.

Pep Guardiola: O’Reilly Is Always There

It began last season when O’Reilly’s integration into the first team setup numbed the pain of the team’s worst season under the former Barcelona manager. The situation City found themselves in made it all the more impressive for a young player like this to thrive. Speaking in April, Guardiola said:

"He's an attacking midfielder. When you play him as a full-back and the game is quick with transitions, he can arrive.”

"When you go left-right, right-left with a lot of passes you give him time to arrive there and as an attacking midfielder he's always there.”

Nico O’Reilly primarily operated as an attacking midfielder throughout City’s academy ranks, often thriving as a number 10 or advanced number 8. Comfortable on the ball, and as a creative link between midfield and attack, with an eye for goal. If anyone is in doubt of that, have a look on the internet to see O’Reilly’s scorpion kick goal against Middlesborough at youth level.

Man City’s New Style Of Play

It is quite apt that O’Reilly’s breakthrough has come when Guardiola’s team has moved away from tiki taka football, and evolved into a more fruitful, transitional, fast-break style of play. Fans have often seen midfielder Matheus Nunes feature at right-back, which is no coincidence in terms of the profile of player that Guardiola wants in the fullback position.

As Guardiola said earlier in the year: "It looks like in this team if you play left-back you score goals - Josko before and now him [O’Reilly].” That is exactly where O’Reilly has played in every game he has featured in this season so far, bar the opening day cameo against Wolves in central midfield. With the likes of Tijani Reinders and Nico Gonzalez coming into the starting lineup, O’Reilly’s chances of regular football looked limited.

Forced as a result of Rayan Ait-Nouri’s injury in August, O’Reilly got the chance to feature as a left-back and has taken his chance exceptionally. However, Ait-Nouri is scheduled to return after the October international break, which gives Guardiola a dilemma whether to stick or twist with the young Englishman.

Should he twist, fans may see some tinkering on the team sheets. The unconventional move of playing Abdukodir Khusanov as a right-back has been a similar masterstroke by Pep too. O’Reilly’s versatility may see him compete with the Uzbekistani at right-back too. Otherwise, Ait-Nouri may find himself switched to the opposing flank. There are plenty of games to go around, and City’s recent injury woes have shown that there will be lots of chances for players to capitalise throughout the course of this season.

Once upon a time, Guardiola teams were built on foundations such as Sergio Busquets, Rodri, Fernandinho, and Joshua Kimmich. They were moulded perfectly for the possession system that Pep built his managerial identity around, bringing a multitude of success. As a recognition of teams developing the kryptonite to ‘Guardiola Ball’, the Spaniard has shifted away from an element of predictability.

Some would even go as far as suggesting that he is playing a counter setup similar to long-time arch rival Jose Mourinho in his heydays. O’Reilly is a hybrid profile of both the ‘old’ and ‘new’ Pep. He is physically strong, tall and has high IQ that allows him to play flawlessly out of position.

Who Has Benefitted From The Switch In Style?

After a short assessment of the team, the biggest benefactors to the change have been Erling Haaland, Abdukodir Khusanov, O’Reilly himself and Jeremy Doku.

Nico’s partnership with Doku has created a seismic shift in how City’s fortunes have changed. It all caught the public eye after the 3-0 dismantling of Manchester United, and their understanding of each other gets stronger by the game.

The system allows Doku to play to his best strengths: directness, dribbling and inside runs. O’Reilly’s confident ability to hold his own runs to allow Doku to move in centrally - where he is most lethal and can isolate defenders, or string passes into the advancing Phil Foden or Reijnders.

In the Premier League, Doku is within the 96th-99th percentile for assists, goal involvements and shot accuracy. It may be a hard task for Ait-Nouri to get back into this team if O’Reilly continues to gel with his teammates as efficiently as he has, in a position he only learnt in January of this year. As this article is being written, Nico O’Reilly has just received the call-up from England manager Thomas Tuchel for their upcoming international fixtures.

Soon, O’Reilly may even have built up enough credentials to get the call-up for the World Cup next year. Not so bad for a kid off the block in Manchester.