Pep Guardiola issues Manchester City trialist with special praise following AC Milan debut

Manchester City trialist Amar Fatah was subject to special praise from Pep Guardiola following his debut for the club during the pre-season meeting with AC Milan.

The Troyes and Sweden youth international forward most-recently played as a winger on loan at Belgian club Lommel, who are also part of the City Football Group alongside his parent club in French football.

Fatah first signed a five-year contract with Troyes in the summer of 2022, for an initial sum of €5 million, before joining Lommel on loan for the remainder of the 2022/23 season, extended through the duration of 2023/24.

But an injury sparked a rehabilitation process alongside Manchester City whilst using the City Football Academy facilities, leaving Fatah with a rare opportunity to rebuild his fitness in Pep Guardiola’s squad in the absence of first-team regulars this summer.

As such, a debut for the Premier League champions – albeit in non-competitive action – came over the course of the weekend, with Fatah featuring as a second-half substitute at Yankee Stadium in a narrow 2-3 defeat to AC Milan.

Speaking after City’s defeat in New York, Pep Guardiola was keen to issue special credit to the performances of four attacking stars, including the club’s trialist on their pre-season tour of the United States.

“Oscar [Bobb] is always aggressive, one-vs-one, one-vs-two,” the City manager said. “Amar [Fatah, trialist] was the same when he came in. Micah [Hamilton] the same; the goal, the brilliant action with Macca [James McAtee].

“Everyone made his contribution, and very happy with how they played.”

Whilst the understanding is that Pep Guardiola was told to take a specific look at the work and talents of Amar Fatah this summer, it remains unlikely that Manchester City will pursue a permanent agreement for the trialist in the coming weeks.

However, the player’s showing in the new Manchester City third kit will no doubt come as huge encouragement and act as a further testament to the City Football Group’s talent identification process for their global portfolio of clubs.

Fatah could yet showcase his action for Manchester City this summer with two pre-season matches still remaining for the club, as they take on FC Barcelona and Chelsea in their remaining contests over in the United States.