Manchester City are have even more of a target on their back in 2024/25, having moved into the territory of unprecedented dominance of English football with last season’s title win.

The key to success is always to reinvent and evolve so as not to allow the competition any time to catch up. While the clearest way to do that is spend in the transfer market, allowing young players the opportunity to step up can also have major benefits as long as they are good enough.

City have some of the very facilities anywhere in the world at their Etihad Campus base and are polishing emerging gems all the time.

The obvious Phil Foden aside, Rico Lewis is a shining example from the last two years that chances are on offer to young players in a Pep Guardiola side. The teenage right-back made 50 appearances across 2022/23 and 2023/24 and continues to be an important member of the squad.

Here are four names who could be in line for a breakout season in 2024/25…

City fans have been given plenty of reason to get excited about what Oscar Bobb can do. The Norwegian attacker has been with the club since he was 16, progressing through the final stages of the academy, to make his first-team debut just under a year ago.

Bobb made as many as 26 appearances across all competitions last season. Those outings only totalled around 800 minutes, but it was an important step to prove himself to Guardiola in a senior setting. That has been followed by a pre-season and a start in the Community Shield.

The 21-year-old is also already a full Norway international – a teammate of Erling Haaland’s, having represented his country eight times since 2023.

James McAtee, as well as the aforementioned Bobb, is how City and Guardiola plan to replace Julian Alvarez following his £81.5m transfer to Atletico Madrid.

McAtee, a Salford boy who has been with City since he was ten-years-old, has been preparing for this moment by spending the last two seasons on loan with Sheffield United across the Championship and Premier League – he made 75 appearances in total for the Blades.

The 21-year-old was another youthful starter in the Community Shield, having earlier been earmarked for a potentially significant role by Guardiola this season.

“I would love to keep him next season with us, because he’s a special guy to play in small spaces, in the pockets, and we don’t have many,” the manager has said. “He’s a player I have a high, high opinion of, and I would like if he can insert properly with the team.”

“So clever, so good,” was how Guardiola described Nico O’Reilly following the Community Shield. That was a first-team debut for the 19-year-old midfielder, who stands well over six feet tall, although he began training with the senior squad as early as December 2022.

O’Reilly has a graceful and flowing style, while he is known to have an eye for the spectacular, once scoring a scorpion kick in stoppage time to win an Under-18 Premier League game.

The best thing he can do right now is continue to soak as much as he can from those around him.

Argentine midfielder Maximo Perrone will need things to fall in his favour to have a genuine shot at a breakout, largely just because of the competition in front of him. But the 21-year-old featured regularly throughout pre-season and served his time out on loan last season.

Perrone made 29 La Liga appearances, most of them starts, for a Las Palmas side that managed to survive in the top flight following their 2023 promotion, gaining invaluable experience along the way.

To date, he’s only played two first-team games for City, but could be a useful rotation option.

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