James McAtee

[Long Slow Goodbye]

There’s a very real possibility that we could have 4/5 academy graduates starting regularly by 2025. McAtee is the player Foden was supposed to be, before he forgot that you can play football without perpetually sprinting.

I think Pep has given up on trying to instill an intellectual handbrake in him, and will now use him exclusively on the wing, hence the signing of Grealish - but I can also see him relishing the challenge of mounting McAtee into the David Silva successor that Phil and Bernardo failed to become.

 

[bluealf]

Behave yourself.

He was a big man, but in bad shape

I still am, though I have lost 3 stones :)

 

[ganganvince]

Behave yourself.

He was a big man, but in bad shape

 

[Tevez City]

I hope Dortmund's scout were not watching the game.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

There’s a very real possibility that we could have 4/5 academy graduates starting regularly by 2025. McAtee is the player Foden was supposed to be, before he forgot that you can play football without perpetually sprinting.

I think Pep has given up on trying to instill an intellectual handbrake in him, and will now use him exclusively on the wing, hence the signing of Grealish - but I can also see him relishing the challenge of mounting McAtee into the David Silva successor that Phil and Bernardo failed to become.

Foden was never David silva 2.0 . Different type of player.

 

[Half time draw tickets]

Fuck me, I knew this was coming.

Read the fucking OP before spouting absolute fucking drivel, will you?

To be fair, the first ten pages of this thread are like:

 

[Centurions]

I hope Dortmund's scout were not watching the game.

Didn't take you long did it...

 

[Shaelumstash]

To be fair, the first ten pages of this thread are like:

View attachment 22092

Yeh but the point is, there was an article in The Times where he got called the English Messi and potentially the best Mancunian youngster ever.

It’s not me hyping him up, or being “raggish”, I was quoting The Times.

 

[Half time draw tickets]

Yeh but the point is, there was an article in The Times where he got called the English Messi and potentially the best Mancunian youngster ever.

It’s not me hyping him up, or being “raggish”, I was quoting The Times.

Yeah completely agree mate, wasn’t having a dig. I meant more when you back to the start of the thread, credit to @01282 for identifying him in the ninth post, followed by several more pages of speculation and additional names being chipped in

 

[twosips]

McAtee's problem is that we all want to sign Grealish and Kane. McAtee is immense, but can anyone really see him getting any substantial game time ahead of Gundo, KDB, Ferna, Rodri, Mahrez, Cancelo, Zinchenko, Foden, Grealish, Torres, Sterling etc etc? And yeah, I included Rodri, Cancelo, Mahrez, Sterling and so on, despite not being tradititionally attacking midfielders, because we know Pep would rather use a senior player out of position than a kid. The likes of Palmer, Delap, Lavia and Doyle are all deserving too. There's just too many great young players... but a squad packed full of internationals, with a *very* cautious manager when it comes to young talent.

It took ages for a genuinely generational talent like Foden to earn regular minutes - how is that gonna be possible for all those? Foden exists now, so even he's a blocked route into the first team. I know Foden took a while because he's small, but I still think the main reason he took ages was because he's a kid, and Pep's cautious about youth players, especially when he's got a squad full of international superstars so doesn't have to use them.

Personally, I think it's possible to find minutes for them but I don't think Pep is that kind of manager, so it's an either/or situation. If you want Grealish, Kane etc... probably have to accept that these lads just won't get a go.