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Manchester City hoped, and may even have expected that a midfielder called Nico would transform their fortunes during the second half of last season. The man that has become key to Pep Guardiola’s side’s mid-season surge and made them contenders to pull off the quadruple is not, however, the gangly Nico Gonzalez, who was recruited from Porto for £50 million last January, but rather academy graduate Nico O’Reilly, who cost nothing at all.
The 20-year-old boyhood City fan from north Manchester was an unlikely candidate to become so instrumental to the team’s resurgence for three key reasons.
O’Reilly was a homegrown player, and they rarely get many consistent opportunities in the City first team beyond the obvious examples of Phil Foden and Rico Lewis. He also suffered a serious ankle injury at the crucial stage of his development, forcing him to undergo surgery and miss the bulk of the 2023-24 campaign.
O’Reilly eventually came into the first team as a makeshift left-back and, in his own words, was learning on the job after spending most of his youth career as an attacking midfielder. You wouldn’t have known that from watching him, though, and after nailing down that defensive role for 12 months, he has now begun to produce even more impressive displays in a more natural role.
Secret weapon
O’Reilly had made headlines in City’s academy for his eye-catching goals, which included a scorpion kick against Middlesbrough and a 40-yard lob against Manchester United. That goal-scoring prowess became his secret weapon when feeling his way into Guardiola’s side as a left-back last season, as he bagged five times while providing two assists as he proved particularly important to City reaching the FA Cup final and recovering from a horror run of form in the Premier League to finish in the top four.
O’Reilly was the unsung hero of that resurgence, but now the secret is out, especially after his two goals powered City to a 2-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday. O’Reilly is one of the main men in City’s compelling pursuit of Arsenal in the Premier League title race as well as their quest to win each of the Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
City have won their last five games in all competitions and O’Reilly has started all of them, scoring three times.
Un-droppable
O’Reilly’s importance to the team is not a new thing, however. Erling Haaland is, for example, the only outfield player in the City squad with more minutes than O’Reilly in the Premier League and Champions League this season.
“He is becoming un-droppable,” said former City defender Joleon Lescott on TNT Sports. “It’s easy to recognise that because he’s scored two goals today, but in previous games he’s shown athleticism and when the team has lacked legs transitionally, whether going forward or back he’s shown he can recover and he was good tonight going in behind.
“I think as a young player you want to play and you’ll say yes, I’ll play anywhere. But when you’re given the opportunity in such an incredible team at such a vital stage of the season to play in your best position because the manager trusts you to influence the game like he has done – that will give him so much confidence.”
Thriving in ‘his position’
It is no coincidence that O’Reilly has come to the fore since being restored to his natural place in the pitch. The youngster made his first appearance of the season in midfield in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final at Newcastle, though that was in an anchoring role and more of an emergency option as Gonzalez was injured and Rodri was only just returning to full fitness.
He played in a similar position against Galatasaray, and it was only for the trip to Tottenham at the end of January that O’Reilly was given the advanced role he thrived in at youth level, playing as a No.8 in Guardiola’s new-look 4-1-3-2 formation. He has excelled there and become the coach’s top choice, starting all of City’s league games since then.
“What a player,” Guardiola said on Saturday. “He played full-back, holding midfielder, he can now play in his position. He has made an incredible step up. Nico gives us that physicality that we need in the middle. He is so complete and so young.”
O’Reilly played an important combative role in the dramatic win at Liverpool while scoring against Fulham before his brilliant brace against Newcastle, where he effectively played as a No.10 behind Omar Marmoush and Haaland. Indeed, he often looked like a No.9.
Football intelligence
For his first goal, O’Reilly chested the ball down to Marmoush by the halfway line then took off alongside the Egyptian, firing a first-time strike inside the near post from just outside the box. For his second, he took a leaf out of Haaland’s book, timing his run perfectly to meet the Norwegian’s cross from the right-hand side and head home.
He was inches away from grabbing a first-half hat-trick, too, just failing to get the right connection when he slid into the area to meet a low cross from Marmoush.
“Because of his versatility, his energy, his football intelligence, just 20 years of age, what he’s doing is remarkable,” said former City star Micah Richards on Match of the Day. “It was his willingness to run and it’s not only that, it’s the timing of his runs.
To see someone from the academy getting this opportunity and taking it. He’s an England international now who can play midfield and left-back, so that versatility is going to be good for the country as well. His all-round game was excellent. It was a perfect performance for a player who is so young, who is having to adapt from left-back and now playing as a No. 10.”
Wayne Rooney added: “Pep’s seen something in him, Pep’s seen him every day in training and has realised that he can play all over the pitch.”
Gift for Tuchel
Guardiola’s vision that O’Reilly could play at left-back has not only helped City’s pursuit of all four trophies, it has also done England boss Thomas Tuchel a favour.
The Three Lions boss is seriously short of left-backs due to Tino Livramento’s injury nightmares and Myles Lewis-Skelly losing his place in the Arsenal first team. O’Reilly has subsequently been a gift for Tuchel, and despite making only his first competitive appearances for his country in November, he is in pole position to start at the World Cup.
In contrast to the dearth of options on the left side of defence, England have an embarrassment of riches in midfield. Despite that, O’Reilly is playing so well right now in an advanced role that Tuchel could even be tempted to play him higher up the pitch as a No.10 and turn the already fierce battle between Morgan Rogers, Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Eberechi Eze and Phil Foden into a six-horse race.
Locking down his place
It is set to be an enthralling next five months for a player who less than two years ago was only known to City academy enthusiasts, and O’Reilly has admitted that he did not necessarily see himself making the step up.
“When you’re at the best club in the world and as you start progressing you think ‘Do I have a chance here?’,” he admitted to the Manchester Evening News. “With a team like this and a club like this it’s very hard for a young player to come through because they win everything. It was exciting though, and if you push hard and work hard enough you get your chance.”
O’Reilly’s versatility unlocked the door into Guardiola’s team which is usually sealed off for homegrown youngsters. Now he has locked down his place and isn’t going anywhere.
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