Man City and James McAtee January transfer decision just got messier

For years, all James McAtee has wanted is to prove he is good enough to play football at Manchester City.

From joining their academy as an under-11 when his dad whisked him away from United, through to completing Premier League 2 football, earning promotion and then suffering relegation with Sheffield United right up to coming on a Leicester, everything has been geared towards making it at the Etihad. A career in professional football has been the ambition, but life as a City player has been the dream.

Lately though, it has been easier for McAtee to think about finally giving up on it. This season was and is realistically his last chance to make it, and he chose to forgo more minutes elsewhere at a high level to try and convince Pep Guardiola he could shine in his team but it had been a losing battle.

The re-signing of Ilkay Gundogan didn't help, and the fact that McAtee is essentially fighting with three of the best players in the world in Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva for his best place in the team hasn't either. Still, for all the praise Guardiola has given him he has spoken louder by giving him so few minutes during the worst run of form the team has endured in years.

City's coach put him in the same bracket as a string of 'unbelievable' players that have come through at the club - who have all been sold or left. Guardiola was right to point out after Villa that Morgan Rogers left because he was up against world-class players in their prime and the same is true for most of the others in that list, yet McAtee can't have looked at what has gone on this season and thought the competition was anywhere near as fierce.

That is why Guardiola has talked of being 'unfair' on McAtee, of trusting in his senior