The teenage central defender is one of a large number of exciting young Academy players included in the squad that has travelled across the Atlantic.
City are gearing up for four games across the pond, with the Premier League champions playing Celtic in North Carolina, AC Milan in New York, Barcelona in Orlando and Chelsea in Columbus as part of our preparations for the upcoming 2024/25 campaign.
And for Katongo, the chance to learn and gain insight from Pep and Co. promises to be an experience to both cherish and absorb.
“I think it will be another great experience just to be around an even bigger first-team and see how they manage things both on and off the pitch as well,” Katongo said ahead of the squad’s departure to America.
“Hopefully I can achieve more growth as a player.
“Obviously Pep’s the best manager in the world and hopefully he can teach me a thing or two, the same with the players as well.
“And if I could make my debut it would be great.
“It would mean a lot because I’ve been at City quite a while so it would be good for me.
“It will also be great to see how a side like Barcelona play, like how it’s different from City.
“Because I know City and Barcelona play similar football, so I’d like to see what they do differently.”
Having been a key part of the City Elite Development Squad side that lifted the 2022/23 PL2 title, the talented teenage defender then spent the 2023/24 campaign furthering his development with a loan spell at League One Peterborough United.
After having to bide his time at the outset of the loan move, Katongo went on to enjoy a hugely successful season at London Road, working under Posh manager Darren Ferguson.
He was part of the Peterborough side that memorably lifted the 2024 EFL Trophy at Wembley thanks to a 2-1 win over Wycombe Wanderers.
Furthermore, Katongo also helped Peterborough reach the League One play-off semi-finals with the teenager making 43 appearances all told, scoring two goals and providing two assists.
Reflecting back, he says it was an experience that developed him both as a player and as a person.
“Looking back, I’d say it’s matured me on and off the pitch,” Katongo reflected.
“I think for the first few months it was quite difficult because I obviously wasn’t playing and wasn’t used to that, but once I started playing, I really enjoyed my time at Peterborough.
“Winning the EFL Trophy was probably my favourite memory in football.
“Just playing in front of that many fans for the first time was surreal.
“I was alright the day before. It was the day of like our meeting and I was slightly nervous but like after the first five minutes of the game I was okay.
“Then seeing the trophy was very good – I loved it!
“In terms of the play-offs, even though we didn’t get the result we wanted in the semi against Oxford, I enjoyed every moment of it.
“Just like the atmosphere and just everything and though we missed out on reaching Wembley it just gives me more drive to achieve the best possible really.”
USA Tour 2024
City face Celtic, AC Milan, Barcelona and Chelsea during the Club’s pre-season tour of the United States.
As always, mancity.com and the official app are the best places to keep across all things City during our time in the US.
Including pre-match press conferences and live open training as well as detailed and varied in-game and post-friendly coverage of all our fixtures, our website and app provide fans with a complete City experience, all from one handy place.
All US Tour matches will be broadcast live on CITY+ in the following countries: United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and United Arab Emirates.
For Saturday’s clash with AC Milan, the following countries will also have access to the broadcast if purchasing CITY+ via the Man City App on iOS only: Albania, Cambodia, Georgia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Uzbekistan.
To access these matches from one of the locations listed above, you will need an active CITY+ subscription. Those same restrictions will apply to full-match replays and Pitcam highlights.
For fans living outside of the countries named, we will have a full explainer article on how to tune in coming in due course.
Subscribers will be able to watch on the official app and mancity.com, with the option to cast matches onto their TV from mobile devices. Find out how to do this via our handy guide here.
For more information on CITY+, including subscription prices, click here.
