Some Manchester City fans are probably sick of hearing about Chelsea this summer.
The west Londoners did what Manchester City could not by going all the way at the FIFA Club World Cup this summer, and to make matters worse for the Citizens, Chelsea did so largely thanks to the contributions of Cole Palmer – a player Pep Guardiola sold for just £40m.
Now, spurred on by the success of that deal involving the England international, Chelsea have now made a new approach to sign another City Football Academy graduate in Nico O’Reilly.
Chelsea start fresh talks over Nico O’Reilly
Simon Phillips has now claimed on Substack that Chelsea have once again asked Manchester City about the 20-year-old.
The respected journalist states that Chelsea made an approach for O’Reilly back in the January transfer window, but that move was swiftly swatted away by Manchester City as the England U20 international started to work his way into the senior side – eventually doing well enough to earn a start in the FA Cup final.
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Phillips adds that Manchester City are once again unwilling to sell the City Football Academy graduate and are keen to avoid a repeat of the Palmer situation, but despite that, Chelsea are still pushing.
Manchester City could change Nico O’Reilly position after arrival of Rayan Ait-Nouri
O’Reilly shone at left-back last season, but the £36.3m signing of Rayan Ait-Nouri for that position has caused question marks to arise over his future in that role.
However, the Manchester City No.75 could finally get more chances in a more natural central midfield position next term.
The Athletic believe Guardiola plans to deploy O’Reilly in a No.6 role going forwards where possible, with the Spaniard keen to mould the Manchester-born wonderkid into a holding midfielder who also contributes going forward like Rodri.
That means Ait-Nouri and O’Reilly, who Chris Sutton called a “quality” player, can coexist in the same team, so the signing of the Algeria international should not exactly be giving Chelsea any encouragement that a sale could occur.