MANCHESTER UNITED are considering a shock swoop for Manchester City star James McAtee.
Any move would see the 22-year-old midfielder become the 15th first-team player to wear both red and blue in Manchester.
McAtee has impressed since his return to the Etihad last summer, from two seasons on loan at Championship side Sheffield United.
The midfielder, who can play out wide, has scored seven goals in 25 appearances across all competitions, including three in 13 Premier League games.
But the England Under-21 star has one more year left on his contract and wants regular playing time next season.
Although McAtee started in City’s 2-1 top-four crunch clash win over Aston Villa on Tuesday night, it was only his second league start of the campaign.
Pep Guardiola has been full of praise for McAtee, but minutes have been hard to come by.
And they could get even harder next season, with City interested in moves for Nottingham Forest ace Morgan Gibbs-White and Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz.
Gibbs-White and Wirtz have been identified as options to replace the departing Kevin De Bruyne, who has been linked with Aston Villa.
McAtee would hope to benefit from De Bruyne’s summer exit, but City want to sign a readymade replacement who can straight slot into Guardiola’s side.
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Leverkusen’s bid to loan McAtee in January, with the option of a permanent £25million transfer this summer, was rejected by City.
The Bundesliga club, who are keen admirers of McAtee, would like to keep Wirtz but a huge offer for the £100m-rated Germany international could prove difficult to resist.
So United may have to get in quick as Forest, Newcastle and AC Milan are all keeping tabs on McAtee’s situation.
Ruben Amorim needs to make serious improvements to his squad, with United’s ageing midfield duo of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen often cited as slow and weak.
Salford-born McAtee joined the City academy aged 10.
He could become just the 15th player to play for both Man Utd and Man City the modern era, and the first to leave the Cityzens for Old Trafford in 13 years.
The last player to do that was Frederic Veseli in 2012, who ultimately left the Red Devils without making an appearance, despite Sir Alex Ferguson playing a key role in his signing.
McAtee would fit United’s recruitment model of signing young players who can grow together as a team.
And Guardiola recently admitted that he doesn’t know if McAtee will stay beyond the summer.
He said: “For the age, I’d like him to stay. But I understand the players want more minutes.
“I would like him to stay, he’s a player for the academy, he knows the patterns. He’s a lovely person and trained really good.
“He can play different positions but I don’t know how the squad will be and we will see.”
But whether Guardiola would risk another youngster becoming a star for a Prem rival, yet alone a close city rival, remains to be seen.
The Spaniard already went through that when Cole Palmer became the best player at Chelsea within months of joining.
Players who have played for both Manchester clubs
- Denis Law
- Brian Kidd
- Terry Cooke
- Peter Beardsley
- Peter Barnes
- Wyn Davies
- John Gidman
- Andrei Kanchelskis
- Sammy McIlroy
- Mark Robins
- Andy Cole
- Peter Schmeichel
- Owen Hargreaves
- Carlos Tevez
* Players to have been on the books of both but didn’t feature at first team level for one or the other: Tony Coton, Shaun Goater, Jon Macken, Jadon Sancho, Frederic Veseli.