The 17-year-old, who spent three seasons with the U’s youth set-up between 2016 and 2019 before progressing to Chelsea’s academy, produced a dazzling display for City in their 10-1 demolition of League One side Exeter City in the FA Cup third round.
McAidoo impressed on the right flank and capped his fine performance with a goal, finishing confidently into the bottom corner in the closing stages.
Special moments 💫 pic.twitter.com/86CV73rlyh
— Manchester City (@ManCity) January 10, 2026
The talented winger left Chelsea to join City’s academy in the summer of 2024 and is now enjoying time with their first-team squad, under Guardiola.
McAidoo, who was in the same age group as current Colchester player Ronnie Harvey during his time in the academy at Florence Park, has been training with City’s first team this season having featured for both of the Premier League club’s under-21 and under-18 teams.
Debut goalscorers 🤝🎯 pic.twitter.com/ioc9JBf9sE
— Manchester City (@ManCity) January 10, 2026
McAidoo, who City describe as ‘a player with explosive speed and versatile - meaning he can operate across the front line’, signed his first professional contract in the summer.
New £62.5million signing Antoine Semenyo made a goalscoring debut for City and assistant manager Pep Lijnders felt it was important the team got back to winning ways in such emphatic fashion.
The Dutchman, who directed affairs in the technical area as Guardiola served a one-match touchline ban, said: "We want to reach finals this year and we are on our way. We play now the semi-final for the League Cup.
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"We go further here in the FA Cup and we are in the Champions League in a good position. We want to build on that.
"But for us the most important thing, Pep says it all the time, we want to grow, we want to build, we want to make the next step as a team.
"For that we need to keep working hard and take nothing for granted. With this we will grow and we will make the next step."