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James McAtee is part of a Salford sporting family that stretches back decades.
His grandad John, from Little Hulton, played professional rugby; his dad John, from Walkden, played professional rugby; his mum’s side of the family, from Little Hulton and Farnworth, include World Cup winner and City manager Alan Ball; and his brother John is also a professional footballer for Bolton, who take on Rotherham in League One on Saturday lunchtime.
Their parents are used to having to split their time watching their children play but the schedule this weekend has worked out perfectly for a double header – even if their phones have been busier than usual with friends and neighbours asking them for tickets for the match at the Etihad. Salford have sold out all five thousand tickets of their allocation – a few thousands more than their average home gate this season – for their blockbuster FA Cup tie against world champions City.
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The McAtees will expect to see their son start against the city of his birth, with James hoping to show Pep Guardiola that he can be part of his first team squad. This season has been a homecoming of sorts after two years away at Sheffield United as McAtee fights to make it at his boyhood club.
While he never shared his dad’s love for rugby league and is more reserved, McAtee has shown guts and fight on plenty of occasions to get to where he wants to be in football. Tough choices have been made from an early age, from not chasing up Liverpool’s initial interest in him as a boy to moving from United’s academy to City’s and then deciding to work with external fitness and individual coaches in order to improve further.
Both seasons at Sheffield United were gambles. Txiki Begiristain were not certain that it was the best club in either campaign and it risked other youngsters jumping ahead of him in the City squad. But, having completed youth football by being named Player of the Year in the Under-23s division aged just 19, McAtee felt he needed to prove his worth in senior football; when he was told nobody had ever gone on loan and come back into the first team squad at the Etihad, he vowed to be the first.
“He’s got the Salford roots from our family but he’s more reserved, he’s been brought up the City way,” dad John tells the Manchester Evening News. “But he’s from a big, strong family.
“He just wants to play football. He’ll do whatever it takes to play football and get into the starting team. He’s always had that about him from being a little kid, he’s always wanted to play.”
McAtee can appear shy or aloof at first, but he quickly settled at Bramall Lane and got on particularly well with striker Oli McBurnie, who insisted on being part of his re-signing announcement video when the youngster returned to the club. Sheffield United fans – who take some impressing – thought little of McAtee when he was substituted at half-time against Luton early in his stint there as he struggled to find his feet, but with the help of coach Paul Heckingbottom he won them over to the extent that he earned his own chant – funnily enough, loosely to the tune of the Inspiral Carpets hit that is belted out at the Etihad.
After two years away, McAtee decided that this would be the season where he found out how it feels to be City. The England Under-21 international played a full part in pre-season after sacrificing some holiday to make sure he was in top shape, and rebuffed interest from other clubs where he would have got more minutes to try and make it in Guardiola’s squad; while there haven’t been many media opportunities given his lack of playing time, he has also expressed a wish to take on all aspects of being a first-team player at the Etihad.
The football hasn’t really gone to plan, with the manager even admitting that he hasn’t given the player as many minutes as he deserved. The away end were chanting his name at Leicester over Christmas after a rare cameo led to a goal that brought just the second win for the team in 14 games, yet the next week McAtee was only picked for the last 10 minutes against West Ham.
It means a January exit could be on the cards, with interest from the Bundesliga and the Premier League and City’s pursuit of Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush this month looking like it will only add to the competition for the homegrown star. The Blues insist they do not want to lose anyone in the squad and will probably demand a permanent sale rather than a loan if anything is to go through (or at least a loan with an expectation to buy) but also have a rule of not keeping players against his wishes; with 18 months left on his contract, this month is the best window to sell him in if he is not in their long-term plans.
While McAtee may conclude that he has no other option, the player still desperately wants to make it at a club where he loves the nickname given to him by fans of the Salford Silva. David was his hero growing up and the influence is obvious as soon as McAtee runs with the ball at his feet.
Saturday is the chance for just his fourth start of the season, and first since October, in a game they should win. The battle to make a permanent home continues for McAtee, but whatever happens next he will always have a home in Salford.