Pep Guardiola’s faced the Scottish champions at the Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with Katongo coming on at centre-half.
It’s the latest milestone for the exciting young defender, who has worked his way through City’s youth system since Under-9 level.
Katongo first made the step up to our Under-18s during the 2020/21 campaign under current first team assistant manager Carlos Vicens, breaking through as City won the National title.
His rapid rise continued with a first opportunity in our Elite Development Squad the following season, with the defender boasting three successive Premier League 2 and U18 titles on his CV having featured for both sides between 2020 and 2023.
A first exposure to the first team was the next natural progression, with Katongo featuring for City during our post-World Cup friendly with Girona at the Joie Stadium in December 2022.
But his senior breakthrough truly arrived during a season-long loan spell at Peterborough United in 2023/24.
Scoring on his debut in a 2-0 EFL Trophy win over Cambridge United, the defender went on to feature 32 times for the Posh across the campaign.
They ended up reaching the League One play-offs but missed out on promotion to the second tier after losing to Oxford United over two legs in the semi-final.
However, Katongo did help his loan club pick up silverware, starting at right-back as they got the better of Wycombe Wanderers in April’s EFL Trophy final at Wembley.
It capped off a successful spell for the youngster at London Road, providing him with valuable senior experience at an important time in his young career.
A dominant centre-half but with a unique positional intelligence and versatility, Katongo is capable of playing across all defensive positions, and boasts an impressive technical ability to complement his physical qualities.
And Guardiola has now deemed the 19-year-old capable of making that senior step up ahead of our pre-season clash with Celtic.
Everyone at Manchester City would like to congratulate Jadel on making his first senior appearance for the Club.
