Pep Guardiola unsure whether Man City star will stay at the club this summer despite wanting to keep him | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola says that he wants James McAtee to stay at Man City next season but understands if he would like to leave.

Even with City’s injury troubles, the academy graduate has only had limited opportunities this season. He was awarded his first Premier League start of the season last weekend, and had only played 135 minutes in the league prior to that start.

Despite this, the 22-year-old has still contributed with three Premier League goals this campaign. He has as many goals as Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku and more than Jack Grealish, Bernardo Silva and Savinho.

On McAtee, Guardiola said: “We haven’t seen him this season because I didn’t allow him to play minutes.

“I cannot ask anything from these type of players that don’t play a lot of minutes.

“Macca has this quality. He has the ability to create the chances, you know, it is there.

“Macca when he lives close to the box, quite similar from Phil (Foden), they are there.

“They have a sense, you know, it’s difficult to train, a sense of I make that movement because the ball is coming here. And after if he didn’t score it’s fine. If he plays more minutes, he will score more.”

Given his lack of game time with City, McAtee has unsurprisingly been linked with a move away from the club. The Englishman was linked with a January exit but that never materialised.

A number of Premier League rivals are interested in McAtee but Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen are believed to be particularly keen on the young attacker. It has been suggested that he could be sent to Germany as part of an exchange deal for Florian Wirtz.

Despite these transfer rumours, Guardiola confirmed: “For the age, I would like him to stay. But I understand the players want more minutes, I understand them.

“So I would like him to stay because I think he’s a player from the academy. He knows the patterns. He’s a lovely person. Lovely guy. He trains really good. Can play in different positions. I like him.

“But I don’t know what will happen with the squad and we will see.”