Man City wonderkid reminded of Sheffield United expectations ahead of possible Stoke City start

With Sander Berge a doubt for the trip to the Bet365 Stadium after damaging his knee against QPR in midweek, 19-year-old McAtee could be handed only his only third start since his summer move to South Yorkshire in the Norwegian’s absence.

McAtee has played just over 45 minutes of senior football off the bench since being taken off at half-time of his last league start for the Blades, away at Luton Town back in August.

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But boss Paul Heckingbottom told The Star that McAtee has been made aware that “his chance will come”, after his latest appearance off the bench in midweek in a 1-0 defeat at home to QPR.

“He’s getting minutes. Who knows when it’s going to be a lot of minutes?” Heckingbottom said.

“I want him to take risks and take the shackles off in the final third, when he’s on the ball. Because that’s what he’s got. Macca at his best will risk the ball and try and make things happen.

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“He can handle the ball, be creative and score goals. He knows that, he’s trained hard and knows he’ll get more opportunities and minutes. Hopefully, he can make them count.”

After carving out a reputation as one of English football’s brightest young talents with his performances for City’s U23s side, McAtee made the decision to leave the comfort zone of the Etihad Campus in the summer in a bid to further his football education at Bramall Lane.

First-team opportunities have proved difficult to come by so far, but that is exactly how Heckingbottom and his coaching staff wanted it. Appearances in the first team are earned, not given, and McAtee’s status as a City loanee affords him no special privileges – something that was made plain to him before he made the decision to move to South Yorkshire.

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While fellow City loanee Tommy Doyle has established himself in Heckingbottom’s starting XI, McAtee is gaining experience of the potential troughs of life in a first-team environment – and learning first-hand that life in professional football will not always be smooth.

“He's sort of been in and around City's first team, but here there's a different expectation,” Heckingbottom, who revealed City’s loan manager has visited to check on McAtee and fellow loanee Tommy Doyle’s progress, added.

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“We expect him to perform and play minutes for us. He expects to do that too. So he shouldn't just be happy, whereas at City maybe he was getting in that little comfort zone.

“Of a young academy player in and around the first team. But he didn't want that, he wanted to come out and be in this position. So I think that's the difference in it.

“He's come here, wanting to play and putting pressure on himself to do that. We've done the same with that. Telling him: ‘You've got to make us better.’ So that's the difference.”

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