Manchester City youngster Nico O’Reilly has earned himself a surprise England call-up for this upcoming international break.
The impressive young utility player, who has been deployed as both a defender and a midfielder under Pep Guardiola, has proved to be a popular member of the squad among Man City fans.
A north Manchester-born academy product, O’Reilly has represented the Three Lions throughout various age groups across the youth level, but this England camp will be his first senior call-up.
Yet another local lad flying the flag for 0161 in the national team.
The 20-year-old arrived at St George’s Park on Monday afternoon along with a number of ther young English stars such as Myles Lewis-Skelly, Elliot Anderson, Jarrel Quansash, who have recently been integrated by national team boss, Thomas Tuchel.
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O’Reilly has been added to the squad following the withdrawal of fellow defender Reece James, with the Chelsea fullback having picked up yet another injury in the Premier League.
As detailed by England Football: “The Chelsea captain sustained an injury playing for his club over the weekend and has been ruled out of England’s October internationals following medical assessments.”
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With O’Reilly able to play not only in defence but on either flank, as he has already done in Guardiola’s ever-fluid system, the versatile Man City rotation player isn’t just looking more and more like a first-team star but could soon be a capped England international.
Looking forward to seeing more of this on the big stage:
As you can see, Pep has continued to deploy him in even the biggest of games, and it seems as though he’s clearly impressed Tuchel enough to make him first in the queue to replace James.
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Rightly so, we’d hasten to add; it remains to be seen whether or not he will feature in the two upcoming fixtures against Wales and Latvia.
Commenting on the moment of recognition, City expressed their pride and congratulations, insisting that the decision “also helps further cement what has been a quite magnificent start to the season for the 20-year-old” in which he’s already made nine first-team appearances across all competitions.
That now makes the number of Greater Manchester-born/based players in the current England squad to four (just one of those being from Man United in Barcelona loanee Marcus Rashford) – an admittedly smaller number than we’ve come to expect over the years.
Nico O’Reilly signed a fresh new deal at Manchester City just last month.
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
6th October 2025 
