Forgotten Man City star returns to scene of his greatest moment with transfer question to answer

Oscar Bobb announced his arrival as a major talent at Manchester City at St James' Park in January 2024 but his journey since hasn't been smooth.

St James' Park on the night of Saturday, January 13, 2024, felt the moment when Oscar Bobb announced himself as a star of the future for Manchester City. The young Norwegian played second fiddle to Kevin De Bruyne, who came off the bench to turn the game on its head and prove he still had it, but Bobb was still a major part of the storyline.

De Bruyne had equalised for City on 74 minutes and then created the last-minute winner with a fine assist, clipping a brilliant ball over the top for Bobb. But it still required some finishing. The winger collected it with a smooth touch past Kieran Trippier and then showed his quick feet to move the ball away from Martin Dubravka and into the net.

It was a turnaround and a goal that maintained momentum after the Club World Cup triumph, eventually helping the Blues win a fourth successive Premier League title. It also came with a ringing endorsement from Pep Guardiola, who revealed the role former director of football Txiki Begiristain played in getting Bobb a first-team promotion in the summer of 2023.

“Txiki at the end of last season said to me that in the Under 23s Oscar Bobb was the best player by far and I said: ‘OK [he’ll] go to Japan [on our summer tour] to start to train with us’,” said Guardiola.

“And immediately Oscar got something that is the most important thing. That is to rely on his mates. It’s more important than relying on the manager. When the mates can say: ‘OK - this player can play with us’, that is the best success.

“And it was immediately. He can play in five positions, striker, right wing, left, in the pockets... [he is] so dynamic and the work ethic is unbelievable."

Bobb's City career looked set for take-off the following summer, when he was the best player throughout the 2024 pre-season, only for a leg break on the eve of the Premier League campaign kick-off to wreck his year.

It is why the 22-year-old has still only started seven Premier League games. Five of them have been this season, but he has struggled to make an impact and with everyone fit in attacking areas, he has drifted to the periphery.

Bobb started the first three league games of the season but has since managed 76 minutes against Brentford and 61 minutes against Aston Villa when starting. He didn't make the matchday squad against Bournemouth and although he made the cut against Liverpool, he didn't get on.

His return to the bench came about due to Rodri's absence and it is unclear if the midfielder will be fit to face Newcastle this weekend. Abdukodir Khusanov was the other senior player to miss out in those games, but he is unlikely to be promoted to a squad ahead of a winger.

Either way, Bobb is probably the 19th or 20th man in a matchday squad of 20 at the moment, and that isn't a good place to be, especially when Guardiola has recently alighted on a system that only really uses one winger.

Jeremy Doku shone in that role against Liverpool and Savinho is next in line. Guardiola has been packing the centre of late, using Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki in the same team with Nico Gonzalez.

That makes Bobb's route back into the side a difficult one. He might have an eye on the more routine Etihad fixtures against Leeds and Sunderland as potential starts and seems certain to play against Brentford in the Carabao Cup quarter-final.

But as he returns to the scene of what is probably his happiest memory in a City shirt, he would be forgiven for ruing the misfortune that has left him further down the pecking order. It's entirely possible that on this trip to Newcastle, he doesn't even get on the pitch, despite enjoying a strong cameo for Norway in Italy on Sunday night, that included an assist for Erling Haaland.

There could come a time, probably not in January but perhaps in the summer, when Bobb feels he has to look for first-team football elsewhere. He was linked with clubs in the summer, although an exit at that point was never a possibility.

He will be 23 next summer, however, and needs to find a route to more minutes at City if he is to continue the development that looked so promising nearly two years ago.