Manchester City are reportedly ready to put a new contract offer on the table for rising star James McAtee.

The 21-year-old spent the last two seasons on loan with Sheffield United but it looks as though Pep Guardiola is now ready to hand him a huge opportunity to make an impact on the first team.

According to The Athletic, City are 'ready to offer' McAtee a new deal after turning away bids worth up to PS30 million from rival clubs this summer.

Three Premier League clubs had been monitoring the midfielder's situation - Leicester City, Nottingham Forest and Southampton were all in the picture, alongside the likes of Celtic and European sides including Stuttgart and Feyenoord.

A number of the interested clubs in questions had made contact with City over both permanent and temporary moves for McAtee, but they were met with the news that he is someone Guardiola plans to utilise moving forward.

The boss admitted that he 'didn't like' the 21-year-old's performances during pre-season and instructed him to come back with a bigger impact, which he has done.

McAtee's efforts earned him the backing of the manager, who informed sporting director Txiki Begiristain that he did not want the midfielder leaving in any capacity this window.

"He knows all the process and how he moves in the pockets.

I think his period at Sheffield helped him a lot to give value in how difficult is football; to suffer to get points, the physicality, win duels, defend deep," Guardiola said.

"This kind of stuff normally in the City Academy they don't do that.

It helped him a lot playing there but when you find players in the small spaces that attack the final thirds, have a sense of goal, it is difficult to find these sorts of players.

McAtee has that quality.

"That's why I said to Txiki in the beginning of the season I don't want to loan him or sell him.

I need him because I need a specific quality in the small space and McAtee has this ability.

"McAtee made 32 appearances across all competitions for Sheffield United last season and boasted his versatility by playing at right-wing as well as up front alongside his usual position in midfield.

He contributed five goals and four assists, with his three goalscoring contributions against Gillingham in the FA Cup particularly turning heads in his direction.

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