Ryan McAidoo turned a pre-season cameo against Inter into a proper argument for more minutes. At Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong, in front of more than 40,000 supporters, he came on at the start of the second half and looked like a winger trying to force the pace. Manchester City signed him from Chelsea two years ago, and this was the kind of night that makes the next step harder to ignore.

Maresca's view of McAidoo

Enzo Maresca did not talk up the result, which is probably sensible in a friendly. He talked up the player. “We have been speaking with the club about Ryan and since day one he is that kind of winger I love. Very aggressive one v one, always trying, making the right decision. But he is young and he needs the right path,” Maresca told BBC Sport.

That second part is the key. Maresca also said the young players would be seen in pre-season before a decision is made, and that McAidoo is “working well” before the club takes “the right decision”. He did not promise anything beyond that, and he did not need to. The praise was specific enough to show McAidoo is in the frame.

The cameo that backed it up

The performance matched the words. McAidoo clipped a low shot against the foot of the post and another effort drifted narrowly wide, while Harry, the BBC Sport contributor, said he had the same feeling with McAidoo that he had with Foden, O'Reilly and Palmer.

The numbers are encouraging too. McAidoo has already played 158 minutes across his last two City appearances and has one goal in that span. That is a decent amount of senior football for a teenager who is still being assessed rather than locked into a final decision.

City’s next three fixtures are Arsenal, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, so the club do not have long before the squad picture tightens again. Maresca has not said McAidoo will stay, and he has not said he will go on loan either. What he has said is that the teenager fits the profile he wants, and that is enough to make this more than a one-off pre-season look.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →