The audacious Man City swap transfer deal that would smash January transfer window with dream reunion

German champions Bayer Leverkusen are believed to be planning an ambitious swoop for promising Manchester City midfielder James McAtee in the January transfer window.

Mail Sport understands Leverkusen have held talks with City over a move for the England Under-21, who is believed to be a player that Xabi Alonso rates highly as he seeks to find a replacement for Martin Terrier after his season-ending ACL injury.

The outlet reports that Leverkusen are growing in confidence of striking a deal for McAtee in the window as they aim to bolster their squad for a demanding second half of the season which will see the team compete in the Champions League, Bundesliga title race and German Cup.

What Pep Guardiola has said about James McAtee

James McAtee came through the star-studded Manchester City academy and was described by Pep Guardiola as the pick up of the bunch in a young team which featured a whole host of now proven Premier League stars.

“He's a special, talented player,” said Pep Guardiola earlier in the season. “The generation of Morgan Rogers, Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, Romeo Lavia, Jadon Sancho. All the players that play really well in the Premier League. He was a main player there and captain and a City fan.”

McAtee scored nine goals and provided three assists while on loan at the Sheffield United team that won automatic promotion from the Championship to the top-flight. He remained in South Yorkshire for a further 12 months on loan but was unable to prevent the Blades from finishing rock bottom despite scoring and assisting three times.

The England Under-21 international was the subject of interest from numerous Premier League clubs in the summer, before Guardiola pulled the plug on any summer moves. In a glowing description of the midfielder, Guardiola said in the summer: “I always had the feeling he could play with us.

“I’m very pleased for him because he’s an incredibly lovely guy, he trains really good, never one bad face and he won his minutes. It’s simple. All the players, if you want to ask something, on the green is the best place to show it. Macca today proved it.”

However, since the start of the season McAtee has been limited to just six Premier League appearances - all exclusively from the subs bench. Football Insider understands in a sudden transfer U-turn Guardiola is now open to listening to offers for McAtee as he edges closer to a January exit.

The genius swap deal Man City could look to strike

Manchester City are currently in the process of a drastic January rebuild which has seen the club introduce £126.1m worth of new talent - including playmaker Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Claudio Echeverri. All four arrive with the expectation of helping the Sky Blues to climb back into the Champions League places after a dismal collapse in form between November and December.

However, the January transfer window was not without it’s setbacks and as it stands, City are playing without a recognised right-back after the departure of Kyle Walker. Walker racked up 319 appearances over seven and half years while guiding the team to an incredible 16 pieces of silverware during a trophy-laden period but moves onto pastures new at AC Milan after a disappointing spell of form, which has seen the once imperious defender look increasingly vulnerable.

City have long known they would need to find a replacement for Walker at some stage in the near future and one player that has often been linked with a move back to the Etihad is former academy graduate Jermie Frimpong. The Dutch international, who left the club to join Celtic in 2019, is now plying his trade at Bayer Leverkusen and is rapidly being labelled one of the very best in world football after a series of stellar displays for The Black and Reds over the last four years.

Frimpong helped Leverkusen to a league and cup double while going unbeaten domestically last season, and has been a constant threat going forward throughout this campaign. Overall, the 24-year-old boasts a record of 27 goals and 41 assists in 171 appearances since moving to the BayArena - only Trent Alexander Arnold of Liverpool boasts similar figures for a defender.

What Frimpong has said about returning to Man City

The Netherlands star is still under contract until 2028 at Leverkusen but has previously hinted at his desire to go back to the Etihad and prove himself in English football after nine years in the club’s academy.

In a previous interview, back in 2023, he told One Football: “It would be great (to return to Manchester City)… But I don’t know. They have just won the Champions League and are the best team in the world. In the future we will see. (Pep) Guardiola, really, was not my coach. I only met him a handful of times when I went up to train with the first-team, so I can only talk about Xabi [Alonso].”

Florian Plettenberg understands that Frimpong incredibly has a release clause of around £40m in his existing deal at Bayer Leverkusen, which is likely to be of interest to Liverpool with Trent’s ongoing contract debacle.

However, if Manchester City were to produce an offer of around £30m plus £25m rated McAtee they may be able to beat rivals Liverpool to a highly-talented defender while also ensuring that they have a ready-made replacement for Walker in years to come.