Chelsea's efforts to complete a deal for starlet Nico O'Reilly have fallen flat, with the reigning champions in no mood to sell without a buy-back option..

Enzo Maresca's Blues have benefited from the presence of City academy graduate Cole Palmer in their starting line-up, and it has been claimed that they explored a move for O'Reilly early in the window. The midfielder in the , and has also tasted Premier League and action this term.

City have been busy in the January window after finding themselves playing catch-up domestically and in Europe. at a combined cost of more than £100million, and they could yet land Nico Gonzalez from Porto.

There have also been a number of January exits, with chief among them. For now, though, it appears O'Reilly won't add his name to that list.

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According to the , Chelsea made an approach to City in January over the 19-year-old. However, City were reportedly determined to avoid their mistake with Palmer.

Pep Guardiola's side are said to have only been prepared to entertain a move if there was a buy-back clause inserted - something they didn't manage with in 2023. With said to be unwilling to entertain the idea, O'Reilly stayed put.

While Chelsea could yet return with an eleventh-hour bid on deadline day, City's position has become clear. As things stand, he is expected to remain at the Etihad Stadium for the remainder of the season and could feature in Saturday's FA Cup trip to Leyton Orient.

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O'Reilly, who in January, was an unused substitute for City's trip to on Sunday. Guardiola's team were humbled in North London, conceding the opener inside two minutes and , though their manager took some positives from the early part of the game.

"I only regret the last 25 minutes, we forgot to do what we should do, what we have done for 65/70 minutes," Guardiola told the . "Of course it's a difficult game starting in this stadium, against that team in the first minutes it's happened many times this season.

"But after 10/15 minutes I think we took the game and played really, really, really, really good and we are in it after 1-1 and good momentum we pass to make the transition with Omar [Marmoush] and a deflection and the third goal.

"But after that, we then continued to do what you have to do in terms defensively and [be a] little bit more patient. and when you're playing that way they can run and of course at 3-1 they are comfortable, its more difficult. I regret the last 15/20 minutes, the rest was a really good game for our side. It's difficult to understand when you see the result but this is my feeling."

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