Inside Nico O'Reilly failed Chelsea January transfer as Man City learn Cole Palmer mistake

The most crucial decision Manchester City made during the winter transfer window may have been denying Chelsea in their attempts to sign Nico O'Reilly.

O'Reilly, 20, was the subject of interest from the west London club in January. As reported by the Manchester Evening News at the time, however, City were unwilling to repeat the same mistake from when Cole Palmer moved to the capital 18 months earlier.

They do not have the option to buy back their academy graduate and did not even entertain a similar scenario playing out again with O'Reilly. As such, despite Chelsea being admirers of the north Manchester native, he has ultimately stayed at City.

Pep Guardiola will now be thankful that the player is still at his disposal because it is conceivable that they may not be in the FA Cup without O'Reilly. He started against Salford City in the third round, scoring his first City goal during that 8-0 win.

Then, away at Leyton Orient in the next round, O'Reilly was in the starting line-up again. After playing the best part of three-quarters of an hour, the eventual match-winner, Kevin De Bruyne, came on for him.

Plymouth Argyle were their fifth-round opponents and took the lead at the Etihad Stadium. O'Reilly, however, equalised in the first minute of first-half added-time, heading home a De Bruyne cross.

The academy graduate then turned the tie around 15 minutes from time with another header, tripling his tally of first-team goals during that match. Then, even after starting the quarter-final against Bournemouth on the bench, O'Reilly came on to assist two goals within 20 minutes of coming on.

Explaining City's decision to keep hold of O'Reilly in January alongside several other academy products, Guardiola said: "We are not able