Nico O’Reilly: Shining the Light on the Premier League Young Player of the Season
Nico O’Reilly has proven to be one of Pep Guardiola’s most crucial players this season, scoring 9 goals and 6 assists in 53 appearances and helping the Cityzens shake off a disappointing start and hit their stride in the second half of the season. He’s come up clutch in the biggest occasions, scoring a brace against Arsenal to lead City to victory in the EFL Cup Final, before grabbing an assist vs. Liverpool in the FA Cup and a goal at Chelsea. And whilst he wasn’t able to fend off Arsenal in the title race, he did prove indispensable as they prevailed against Chelsea in the FA Cup Final.
He has provided the goods both in the attacking department as well as the defensive side of things, and it’s why, merely 21 months after making his professional debut, O’Reilly looks set to play a leading role for England in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, having only made his international debut last year. The newly crowned Young Player of the Premier League Season has positioned himself to play a leading role in midfield and defense, but just what makes him so special? Let’s take a look.
Firstly, the most important thing to understand about what makes O’Reilly so special is his skill set. O’Reilly has a very good understanding of the game, which allows him to have outstanding positioning on the pitch. It is through this that O’Reilly truly affects the game understanding when to overlap and provide width, underlap and draw defenders away, or even making late runs into the box to get on the end of crosses and convert them into goals.
Some examples of this would include the recent match against Everton in the 18th minute when O’Reilly moves from out wide to underlap and attack the half space drawing a defender with him allowing Jéremy Doku to be one on one his man. Once Doku is able to beat his defender he picks out O’Reilly who is able to turn his defender before playing the ball across the box however it does get intercepted and goes out for a corner.
Again in the 43rd minute, Man City have the ball near their own goal with 6 players behind to help out in build up against Everton’s 5-man press and Man City are able to beat the press and play the ball into midfield and the player who receives it is none other than Nico O’Reilly who is able to progress the ball and lay it off to Doku.
From there, O’Reilly continues his run until he’s Man City’s most advanced player in the attack drawing defenders off Haaland allowing Haaland to be unmarked as the cutback is played but unfortunately the ball doesn’t get to Haaland but However Haaland and O’Reilly’s movement in the box does allow Doku to score and put City ahead. But it’s not only in possession where O’Reilly shines but defensively as well, as O’Reilly’s physical profile allows him to overpower most Premier League wingers, and his good aerial ability allows him to win his duels against his man.
Looking back to the EFL Cup Final, it’s evident that defensive actions in that match don’t get enough recognition because of the brace he scored. However, when you look at it again, O’Reilly helped in keeping a clean sheet, having won 7 of his 15 ground duels and all 3 of his aerial duels, plus he only got dribbled past once during the final. O’Reilly managed to pull all this off while routinely being found in the box and being Man City’s most dangerous attacking threat.
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He only just turned 21 in March, but Nico O’Reilly is already cementing his status as one of the first names on the City team sheet. Only Rodri (2.4) and Nico González (2.4) had more tackles per 90 than him (2.3) in the Premier League, only Marc Guéhi, Rúben Dias and Abdukodir Khusanov are averaging more blocks per 90, whilst only Erling Haaland (23.1) and Antoine Semenyo (13.0) had a higher Expected Goals on Target than him (6.2).
It’s evident that while he has emerged as an attacking outlet for City, he still has room to improve, as evidenced by his 7 big chances missed (second to Haaland) and 12.2% shot conversion rate. And it’s clear that he has room to improve in terms of discipline, with only Semenyo and Nico González averaging more fouls committed per 90. But ultimately, what makes O’Reilly so unique isn’t necessarily his position but rather his role within this current Man City team.
O’Reilly has a very good technique and is very composed whenever he has the ball. This is why Guardiola has given him so much game time this season and in so many different positions as well. While he’s predominantly played as a left back, he’s also been given minutes at central midfield, defensive midfield, and left winger. It’s precisely this versatility that has made him such an intriguing option for both Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel.
Even when O’Reilly plays in left back, he often tucks into the midfield, makes overlapping and underlapping runs, and even gets into the box to score goals, and these movements usually cause confusion among opposition defenders, allowing other players around him to shine more. The best example of this would be Jeremy Doku, who usually finds himself in 2 v 1 situations in the final third, but now, due to O’Reilly’s presence, teams can’t afford to do this because of the threat O’Reilly also poses in the box, often allowing Doku to have 1v1 situations.
After beating out Rayan Cherki, Kobbie Mainoo, Lewis Hall, Alex Scott, Junior Kroupi, Michael Kayode and Matheus Fernandes to the Young Player of the Season award, O’Reilly now looks set to make his mark in his first-ever major tournament for England. Whether he manages to end 60 years of pain for Three Lions or not, one thing’s for sure: with four years left on his contract, O’Reilly looks set to play a leading role as City transition into a new era under Enzo Maresca next season.
By: @TL_Analytics
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / David Horton – CameraSport