Pep Guardiola has told Man City’s sporting director that he wants the player to stay for this season.

Pep Guardiola has demanded that one Manchester City player is not sold this summer, the Catalan has revealed.

Guardiola typically does not stand in the way of a player if they want to leave, having let Cole Palmer move on to Chelsea from City last summer.

He has also listened to Julian Alvarez’s desire for more minutes and gave his blessing for an imminent £81 million switch to Atletico Madrid.

Premier League champions City have only made one signing so far this summer, signing Brazilian winger Savinho for £30.8 million from sister club Troyes.

They may well not make another but Guardiola has already confirmed that one player will be staying put.

21-year-old playmaker James McAtee was one of four academy products to start the Community Shield win against Manchester United, having returned for pre-season after two seasons on loan at Sheffield United.

McAtee hit the post in an eye-catching display and in his post-match press conference, Guardiola said he told sporting director Txiki Begiristain that the youngster is off-limits as the team needs his “specific quality”.

Image: Getty

“It is difficult to find players with a sense of goal in small spaces who attack the final third and McAtee has that quality,” Guardiola said, as per Manchester Evening News.

“That’s why I said to Txiki at the beginning of the season that I don’t want to loan him and I don’t want to sell him because I need his specific quality in small spaces. [James] McAtee has this ability.

“I have to see them and the first games I didn’t like it much and I told him afterwards: ‘Your impact in the game is not big, I want more.’ After, he did well and his impact was really good.”

McAtee made his first official start for City on Saturday after making cameos off the bench over the last three seasons.

Image: Getty

He helped Sheff United earn promotion to the Premier League before suffering immediate relegation and Guardiola believes his experience at Bramall Lane will help him greatly.

“He is a player who came from the academy, he knows all the processes and how he moves in the pockets,” Guardiola added.

“His period at Sheffield United helped him a lot to give value and suffer to get points, physicality, win duels, this kind of stuff that normally they don’t do in the City academy. It helped him a lot playing there.”