Man City’s Bah faces Asia Tour audition as Maresca weighs defender’s future

Brest circling as Nice loanee returns to Etihad crossroads

Verdict expected to follow pre-season run through Italy and Spain

Juma Bah is set to have his Manchester City future put under the microscope this summer. New head coach Enzo Maresca is planning to run the rule over the young defender during the club’s pre-season tour of Asia before deciding whether he has a role to play at the Etihad Stadium.

The 20-year-old centre-back joined City in January 2025 but has yet to feature for the first team, spending both intervening windows out on loan in Ligue 1. First at RC Lens, then at OGC Nice, who narrowly avoided relegation last season beating Saint-Étienne in a play-off.

Bah is due back at City’s Etihad Campus later this month, which point Maresca will have had only a handful of weeks to assess a squad he inherited following Pep Guardiola’s departure at the end of June.

Maresca, who signed a contract running to 2029, is expected to include Bah in the travelling party for City’s Asia tour.

The Blues will face Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid in the buildup to their Premier League opener against Bournemouth. Those fixtures are likely to prove decisive: reports from France suggest the Italian coach will use the tour to determine whether Bah, who is contracted at City until 2031, is part of his long-term plans or should be moved on again, most likely on another loan.

Ligue 1 interest builds in the defender

Stade Brest have already emerged as suitors, with French outlet Jeunes Footeux reporting that the Ligue 1 club see Bah’s experience and profile as well suited to their project, a claim relayed more widely Sport Witness.

Given Manchester City sanctioned back-to-back loans for Bah over the past two seasons, another temporary switch to France — or potentially England — would not be a surprising outcome. He could leave again if Maresca concludes he needs regular first-team football rather than a fight for minutes in a City shirt.

For now, though, nothing is settled. City’s hierarchy appears content to let Maresca reach his own conclusion on Bah rather than pre-empt a decision.

A summer of significant change at the Etihad

Bah’s situation is a small but telling piece of a much bigger rebuild taking shape in east Manchester.

City have already bid farewell to John Stones, Bernardo Silva and Nathan Aké, all of whom departed as their contracts expired, while a striking £116 million move for Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson has dominated the club’s transfer business and set a new club record fee.

That outlay hasn’t stopped City from continuing to explore the market. The club have made contact over Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde, are pushing to land Lille’s highly rated midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi.

They have been credited with admiration for Chelsea right-back Malo Gusto, though City are said to view Chelsea’s valuation as excessive.

Further departures could yet follow. Jack Grealish, Kalvin Phillips and Tijjani Reijnders all have uncertain futures, while Omar Marmoush and Mateo Kovačić look increasingly likely to leave the club before next season gets under way.

Against that backdrop, a fringe defender like Bah is unlikely to be a priority for Maresca in the short term — but how he performs in Asia could still shape whether his next stop is the Etihad or another loan away from it.