‘One for the future!’, ‘better than Mason mount!’ – Plenty of Man City fans laud ‘incredible’ youngster for his performance against Sporting Lisbon

Plenty of Sky Blues have praised the performance of James McAtee following Manchester City’s 0-0 draw with Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday night.

The Premier League champions may have played out a goalless draw on the night, but progressed to the next stage of the Champions League thanks to a 5-0 aggregate win over the Portuguese champions.

McAtee has greatly impressed Guardiola and his coaching staff and has clearly grown out of the under-23 level, where he has scored 17 goals and claimed four assists in 18 games this season.

The youngster produced one of the moments of the match with the last kick, as he scooped a pass over the defence to send Rajeem Sterling through, only for the England man to hit the side netting with his shot.

“McAtee played good in a difficult environment,” said Guardiola.

“Macca is quite calm and a guy who is in a good direction. But, yeah he is a young player and he got minutes in the second half,”

He went on to make the point that McAtee’s pressing was not quite right at certain points of the game – a crucial part of what City do.

“He has played previous games. He knows the rhythm. He has the quality but has to understand the position a little bit better. He was confused in the pressing, he was not correct. But he was good. Minutes in the Champions are really important,” the Catalan added.

Man City fans, also, were all over Twitter praising James McAtee for his display. Here’s what some of them had to say on Twitter…

“One for the future! City’s academy is bright!”
Credit: @RFCnews2

“Mcatee is incredible.”
Credit: @tracking_rory

“He’s amazing!”
Credit: @xlucassoh_

“James Mcatee is better than Mason mount!”
Credit: @SCK298

“So elegant on the ball.”
Credit: @p_jadczuk

“Said for ages he’s some player 😍 deserves every minute he gets.”
Credit: @FluOreSCeNtCxNT

“I’ve seen the future. And it’s James McAtee ….”
Credit: @tracking_rory

“I really hope James Mcatee is at city for years to come.”
Credit: @mcfc_blair

“McAtee’s got a higher ceiling than Foden imo. Looks so confident and needs more game time.”
Credit: @gashead03