Patience Required as Mukasa Watches On

Among the young talents turning heads on City's Asian tour, one name has been conspicuous by his absence from the action. Divine Mukasa, the highly rated attacking midfielder who signed a contract extension until 2030 earlier this summer, has yet to clock a single minute in the friendlies against Inter Milan and the K-League All-Stars.

It is not for lack of ability, as Enzo Maresca was keen to point out when asked about the teenager in his pre-match press conference ahead of the final preseason friendly against Atletico Madrid at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

“Divine is a good player. The only problem is that we have so many players that we have already made many rotations and we struggled to find some minutes for him, for Floyd [Samba], for Xavi[er Parker].”

The simple, if frustrating, truth is squad size. City have travelled with a bloated party, and with Maresca rotating heavily, there simply have not been enough minutes to go around.

Maresca added: “There are three or four players that didn't get minutes in the friendly game but are training with us every day and we can see the way they are improving. The only problem for them is the amount of players we have in this moment.”

Mukasa, who generally does his best work as a number ten while drifting across the pitch, faces another obstacle beyond the squad list: competition. City are blessed with options in that role, with Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki the obvious senior names. During the tour, Claudio Echeverri and Tijjani Reijnders have also operated in the position Mukasa prefers.

For now, the teenager's path to the first team is blocked by a logjam of established talent. It is no slight on his potential, which the club have already backed with that long-term deal. But it does suggest his opportunity will not come immediately.

Another loan move looks the likeliest next step for the 2026-27 season. A spell in the Championship would give Mukasa the regular football he needs to return a more mature and well-rounded player.

The FA Cup and Carabao Cup holders clearly rate him highly. The challenge is finding the space for him to show it.