Morphing midfielders into full backs ought to come as no great surprise at Manchester City these days yet Pep Guardiola’s latest idea in that area of the pitch, vocalised last Christmas, prompted quite a bit of chatter among coaching staff.
Nico O’Reilly was the academy superstar who had scored a scorpion kick and 40-yard lob within the space of a week, an Under 18s captain who had won consecutive league titles and was renowned for his flair and ability to pull off the spectacular. He played one season as a lone striker.
But as he started training with City’s seniors, first briefly while in the Under 16s before then becoming more of a regular, Guardiola noticed his strength and – more pointedly – his height. The City boss is used to the likes of the diminutive Oscar Bobb and Rico Lewis excelling from the youth teams, and O’Reilly represented an outlier.
The suggestion of using him as left back was a surprise though and there was a genuine curiosity in what Guardiola could come up with. Within four months, O’Reilly was changing the direction of an FA Cup fifth-round tie at Bournemouth from that position and then starting a Manchester derby as an old school No 3.
He finished the full 90 minutes of an FA Cup final there and – hopeful of a senior England debut against Wales on Thursday – will provide real competition for Rayan Ait-Nouri once the former Wolves man returns from injury.
‘I was actually a left back when I joined the academy,’ O’Reilly tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘I got moved into midfield, more attacking. Then defensive midfield and now left back.’
Manchester City full back Nico O’Reilly has been called up to the England squad for the first time
The 20-year-old has not even featured for England Under 21s yet but has shot into Thomas Tuchel’s squad
It’s funny really, because on a podcast last December the former City defender Nedum Onuoha put it to O’Reilly that he would end up as a defensive midfielder. ‘No, no, it’s not happening,’ came the retort. Incredibly, he’s gone even further back.
The 20-year-old from Failsworth – a boyhood City fan who grew up with Lewis, still does the food shop with his mum Holli and whose stepfather’s sympathies lie with the red side of town – has taken on every opportunity afforded; it’s culminated in international recognition and a new contract until 2030, which he signed last month.
It was only a few years ago when one senior executive scoffed that ‘we have other players, you know’ when it was suggested that O’Reilly was the next cab off the rank.
And there were some apprehensions about his laidback nature when he was younger. Self-assured to the point of standoffish, as one source puts it. ‘He’s got a similar mindset to Cole Palmer,’ another says.
Dean Brathwaite came down hard on O’Reilly when the pair first met five years ago. ‘I was quite critical of him, wanting him to do more,’ says Brathwaite, a private coach who has worked with O’Reilly extensively. ‘I felt like his shooting was quite easy, he wasn’t (properly) putting it in the net.
‘He didn’t come back for a while, maybe a year or so. I bumped into his mum at a game and she said she wanted to get him back in. He improved a lot. Tall people don’t understand their size for a while.’
O’Reilly is quiet. Very reserved. City’s players respect that and it was noticeable that after Bournemouth, Guardiola was pushing him towards the away end to accept the plaudits.
Phil Foden, his mentor, did exactly the same after O’Reilly scored a crucial goal away at Everton in April. City’s analysts roared encouragement as he pressed Jonny Evans into conceding a corner during a professional debut in last season’s Community Shield.
Pep Guardiola has converted O’Reilly, who played one season in the City academy as a lone striker, into a full back
O’Reilly’s performances will make it hard for Rayan Ait-Nouri to force his way back into the City side when he has recovered from injury
Remarkably, in the days before his true breakthrough moment at Bournemouth, there were conversations as to whether O’Reilly would feature for the academy in a UEFA Youth League quarter-final at AZ Alkmaar.
Bournemouth, with two assists and a storming display after a half-time introduction, saw him wave goodbye to kids football for good.
He still goes to Under 21s matches to watch his mates, still pops in to see the on-site house parents who look after academy players, former coach Ben Wilkinson and education staff.
His development stalled with a broken ankle in 2023, which kept him out for longer than anticipated amid rehabilitation complications, and it’s partly why England’s Under 21s had only just called him up. He’s not even made his bow at that age group.
Once Thomas Tuchel made the call, at 11pm on Sunday night, O’Reilly was straight on to his mum. Holli was speechless and O’Reilly has recounted how, as a single mother, she dedicated her life to him. Even though he was only six, Holli left the choice of where he played football up to her son.
‘It was between (Manchester) United, Liverpool, Everton but got narrowed down to City and United,’ O’Reilly tells Daily Mail Sport.
‘The training at that age was so much better, I just enjoyed it more. It’s very basic training but at the other clubs it was just run around, play games – it wasn’t really helping you out. It was a bit of fun.’
One major benefit during O’Reilly’s formative years was consistency – especially in coaching. Danny Walker took his team up until Under 13s and then again in later age groups. If you’re thinking that Walker’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he is now Enzo Maresca’s No 2 at Chelsea.
O’Reilly’s breakthrough moment came at Bournemouth last season when he had a stormer in the FA Cup quarter-final tie
The youngster provided an assist for Erling Haaland that day as City went on to win 2-1
Guardiola pushes the laidback O’Reilly over to the travelling City fans to take their acclaim
And it was Chelsea who came barging through City’s front doors last January, just weeks after Guardiola had presented his grand plan to colleagues, to see whether they could prise O’Reilly away.
Learning from their Palmer mistake, City would have insisted on a buy-back clause and the move did not progress beyond that.
O’Reilly – represented by the same agency as Guardiola – had held talks over the new deal during the summer and it was eventually signed in September. There was a slight delay between agreement and actually signing during which time Bayer Leverkusen registered an interest too.
Quite where their former boss Erik ten Hag planned to play O’Reilly is anybody’s guess. For more reasons than one.
