The Manchester City fans who braved weather warnings and were briefly forced to evacuate the Kenan Stadium had mostly come to see one man. Erling Haaland was the name on the lips of fans wearing blue for the team’s first game of their pre-season tour of the U.S. against Celtic and the striker duly delivered by scoring a header.
But the most famous player to come out of Norway was not the standout performer on the night in the 4-3 defeat by Brendan Rodgers’ side. He wasn’t even the best player from his country. That was Oscar Bobb.
The 21-year-old had shown flashes of his enormous potential in his breakthrough season with City and his performance in Chapel Hill was the equivalent of him smacking both fists on the door of Pep Guardiola’s office and demanding to play more. Bobb is the fourth academy graduate to make in-roads into the City team within the last five years and three paths have been drawn out in front of him.
Rico Lewis is still getting smatterings of minutes here and there but lacking consistent opportunities. Phil Foden is one of the best players at City and indeed the Premier League, although he too had to wait his turn. Then there is Cole Palmer, who got itchy feet amid the lack of regular football at the Etihad and then exploded at Chelsea, proving himself as one of the best forwards in the league, only trailing Haaland in goals last season. So which path will Bobb take?