Pep Guardiola Jack Grealish Manchester City
(Credit: Hasan Karim, Breaking Media/Imago)
Pete O'Rourke, Transfer Correspondent
Fri 11 July 2025 10:25, UK
Pep Guardiola wants Manchester City to sell Jack Grealish, James McAtee and Kalvin Phillips this summer, sources have told Football Insider.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, senior correspondent Pete O’Rourke revealed what his sources have said about Man City‘s attempts to move on their unwanted trio.
Man City spending £115million on Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders couldn’t prevent an early exit from the Club World Cup, and Guardiola has expressed his desire for a more managable squad.
Grealish‘s cards are marked at the Etihad Stadium after he was left out of City’s Club World Cup squad, but sources have told Football Insider that a loan deal is more likely than a permanent exit for the winger.
The England star’s sizeable pay packet is expected to dictate the nature of any transfer this summer with clubs like Everton interested, but Grealish isn’t attracting as much interest as fellow City outcast McAtee.
Football Insider sources have said multiple Premier League sides such as Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace are all fond of McAtee, with Eintracht Frankfurt the current front-runners to sign him.
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McAtee is set to command a transfer fee between £20–25m this summer but the same can’t be said for Phillips, who Man City are desperate to move on after unsuccessful loan spells at West Ham and Ipswich.
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Football Insider revealed on 9 July that Newcastle are ready to turn attention towards Grealish amid the scramble of clubs trying to sign McAtee this summer, but a permanent transfer looks highly unlikely.
Speaking on the new Inside Track, O’Rourke said that Grealish, Phillips and McAtee all look set to head for pastures new, but only the latter seems set to earn a permanent exit for a decent fee this summer.
“[Guardiola] was quite public that he wanted a more manageable squad at the Etihad for the upcoming season”, he told Football Insider.
“Jack Grealish is probably going to be one of the key players in the rest of the transfer window, and clubs will be looking to see if they can prize him away from Manchester City.
“There will be a number of clubs who’ll be willing to offer Grealish a route out of the club, but it will come down to finances, so a loan might be the most plausible deal.
“James McAtee has a lot of interest in him, in the Premier League and also abroad. Eintracht Frankfurt are leading the race right now, and Borussia Dortmund are interested.
“There’s also interested clubs in the Premier League. Palace, Forest and Newcastle are all looking to land McAtee, who’s probably available for around £20–25 million pounds this summer.
“The other one is the forgotten man, Kalvin Phillips. It looks like he’ll move on as well, but again, finances will dictate whether that’s permanently or on loan.”
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An outlay of £145m for two leading England internationals hasn’t quite paid off despite City’s plethora of on-field success, with Grealish’s minutes and influence decreasing since their treble-winning season.
Phillips immediately went from the lynchpin of Leeds United’s midfield to a serial bench-warmer at the Etihad, unable to displace Rodri in Guardiola’s side and with a career now firmly on the downward spiral.
McAtee’s potential £25m sale will earn City a healthy profit from a PSR perspective, but huge losses on both Grealish and Phillips are inevitable even if Guardiola is able to sell them permanently this summer.
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