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Nico O'Reilly could make his England debut tonight after just 10 Premier League starts for Manchester City, but his talent has always been clear.
When he was eight, Nico O'Reilly had a decision to make. After catching the eye of scouts from all of the North West's biggest clubs while playing for Moston Tigers and Failsworth Dynamoes, he had whittled it down to a list of two.
Casting aside Liverpool and Everton's interest, O'Reilly was now making a decision between Manchester City and Manchester United. He had trained with all four clubs, but this was time to finally commit.
He had begun playing aged three or four and would play for as many grassroots clubs as he could, but when he got to Under-8s and Under-9s, the Premier League competition for him was fierce.
“I chose City because the training was a lot better," he explained to the Man City podcast recently, and it's a decision that has worked out for both O'Reilly and his boyhood club.
The 20-year-old is from a family of split allegiances in Manchester, but his mum and sister were Blues, and so is he. He is undoubtedly City's breakout star of 2025.
At the turn of the year, his first-team experience amounted to a debut in the Community Shield at Wembley, two Carabao Cup starts, and nine minutes off the bench in a Champions League rout against Sparta Prague.
He came on for Erling Haaland that day, and his future seemed to lie further up the pitch, but this might just be the year that changes everything. O'Reilly might still fancy himself as the attacking midfielder who used to prise open games in the academy, but now his country and his club could have other ideas.
In the build-up to the 8-0 FA Cup third-round win against Salford City in January, Pep Guardiola told O'Reilly that he would play at left back, and he has barely looked back since. His England call-up this week came after just 10 Premier League starts and confirmed that Thomas Tuchel currently sees him as a full-back.
“It has been hard, adapting, but things are starting to click together and I’m starting to play the way I know I can play, but as I say, there still is a lot more to come," O'Reilly said after signing a five-year contract at the club last month.
“I grew up always being in the box, scoring goals, and it’s what I enjoy doing, so whenever I get an opportunity, I’m going to try and take them.
“Obviously, the way we play at City, I’m allowed to go high, I’m allowed to go inside and it’s a bit freer out wide, so as long as someone is in those positions, [and] the manager’s happy, there are definitely chances for me to get in those positions."
He enters the England squad after seven successive starts at left back, with Rayan Ait-Nouri out through injury, and there is little doubt that his presence on the pitch makes City a better team.
O'Reilly can't recall playing left back during his academy days, and the respected stats website Transfermarkt backs that up. He was the attacking midfielder with an eye for goal and an assist.
Playing for the Under-18s, he managed 21 goals and 17 assists in 46 appearances and captained City to that title in 2022/23. The spring of 2023 was when he started to make a name for himself, scoring an outrageous scorpion kick against Middlesbrough to win a game in the 95th minute, before netting twice against Manchester United, including a 40-yard lob.
It marked O'Reilly out as a preciously gifted No. 10, a position he played for England at age-group level. So it's fair to say he never saw the transformation into a potential England left-back coming.
But academy players have to be ready to take whatever first-team opportunities come their way. O'Reilly's real breakthrough moment might have been at Bournemouth at the end of March, when he came off the bench at half-time to turn an FA Cup quarter-final back in City's favour.
At full-time, Guardiola and his teammates forced him to take the acclaim of the travelling fans. It was an unforgettable moment.
“I didn’t even know what to think at the time, but yeah, I loved it and obviously I hear all the chants and stuff and it’s such a good feeling,” he said.
“I’m just a kid from Manchester, and I grew up here, so to play for my boyhood club - my dream club – and hear the fans’ give me support like that, it means so much.”
On the pre-season tour of the United States in 2024 Guardiola actually spoke about using O'Reilly to fill in for Rodri, praising his physicality. "Wow, this guy is big", was the City boss' first thoughts on the youngster when he stepped up to senior training.
Rodri ended up missing most of that season through injury, but O'Reilly's calling was to fill a different gap in this City side. A square peg in a round hole initially, he is now so comfortable an England debut could await at Wembley tonight.
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