The inside track on the Manchester City attacking midfielder, who has joined Leicester City on loan until the end of the season
Jordan Blackwell
07:30, 04 Feb 2026
Divine Mukasa has joined Leicester City on loan from Manchester City for the second half of the season(Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
Divine Mukasa, one of Manchester City’s brightest talents, has arrived on loan at the King Power Stadium to give Leicester City a much-needed boost in attack.
With Jordan James and Aaron Ramsey both nursing hamstring injuries that will keep them out until at least March, City needed help in the advanced midfield areas. Mukasa provides just that.
But while James and Ramsey are young, they had a decent amount of senior experience to their name. Mukasa does not. Can he step up and make an impact for City? The proof will be in his performances.
However, there is plenty to suggest that the 18-year-old can be a big hit at the King Power Stadium.
Seriously impressive numbers
Mukasa only has six senior appearances to his name and so there’s little there to judge him on in terms of his output at first-team level. He has set up two goals for Pep Guardiola’s side, providing a nice first-time lay-off to assist Phil Foden on his debut against Huddersfield, and then using a decoy run to tee up Ryan McAidoo in the 10-1 rout of Exeter.
Turning to Mukasa’s form at youth level and the numbers are seriously impressive. Last season, across the Under-18 Premier League, Uefa Youth League and FA Youth Cup, Mukasa scored 17 goals and registered an eye-popping 24 assists across 34 appearances.
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This season, across 13 appearances for the Under-21s and Under-18s, he has seven goals and an assist.
It can be difficult to judge how a player’s success at youth level transfers to senior football, but those figures really are excellent.
His talent earned praise from his coaches too. Man City’s Under-18s head coach Oliver Reiss said last year: “At the end it’s his quality. He is so brilliant on the ball. What he can do with the ball sometimes is unbelievable.
“It looks sometimes too easy for him, because of his quality. He’s good with both feet, normally he’s left-footed but then delivers to the corner with his right foot. So no problem, the way he’s thinking, what he sees, it’s incredible for me.”
Idolising De Bruyne and Zidane
A good marker of how a new signing operates can be the players they look up to. As a Man City playmaker, idolising Kevin De Bruyne seems like the right start, but Mukasa also named Zinedine Zidane as someone he reveres, which is particularly interesting as the legendary Frenchman retired the year before Mukasa was born.
“[De Bruyne] is similar in terms of always looking to create and score goals,” Mukasa said last year. “From the times I’ve trained with them, I’ve tried to pick up as much as I can from the way he behaves, he gives everything every day.
“He’s a good person to look up to. It’s a privilege really [to train with the first team]. They are the best team in the world with the best players in the world, I’m really grateful to be around it.”
Help from Toure
When he was at Leicester, Kolo Toure was a popular member of the coaching staff. Having only recently retired, he was seen as a good bridge between the squad and Brendan Rodgers’ coaching team.
Now back at Man City, where he spent plenty of years as a player, Toure has been credited by Mukasa as being a significant help in his development.
Toure was assistant head coach with the Under-18s last season, and has stepped up alongside Mukasa in becoming a first-team coach this term, giving the teenager someone he knows well in the senior set-up, easing that progression.
“I’ve got to give a big thank you to Kolo,” Mukasa said. “I was with him in the 18s last year. He must have played a big part in pushing me and helping me get into the first team.
“He’s a big character. He definitely comes with a lot of things, but he’s a great coach.”
It’s also been reported that, often after first-team sessions, Mukasa and Toure stay out on the training ground to work on the teenager’s finishing.
Divine Mukasa has joined Leicester City on a loan deal until the end of the season(Image: Neal Simpson/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
Potential striker option
That leads on nicely to a problem that many Leicester fans are hoping Mukasa can solve.
If the teenager is working on his finishing, is he preparing for more games as a striker? Toure’s a help in that regard too, as he’s able to teach what centre-backs don’t like.
Although Dujuan Richards has been brought in, Mukasa could be another alternative to Jordan Ayew and Patson Daka up front.
After all, if he’s good enough to start up front for Guardiola, then surely he’s good enough to do so for Leicester? And he’s got the physical build to tussle with centre-backs too.
Well, when Mukasa was given the nod up top for his Man City debut in September, he wasn’t quite an out-and-out striker, and it wasn’t something he’d had much experience with prior.
“That’s the first time I’ve played as number nine,” he said. “[The manager] gives me more of a false nine role, so it’s a bit similar to being a midfielder.
“It’s just getting in the pockets and stuff like that. It’s only really in the final third that I’ve got to play as a nine.”
Guardiola praise
Guardiola’s not exactly shy when it comes to praising players and he’s not likely to publicly criticise an 18-year-old he’s hoping to develop. But still, he had lots of kind words to say about Mukasa after his debut.
“Divine played unbelievable, he’s an incredibly top player in the pockets, in the striker [position], has a good sense,” he said.
“Divine is top, top. He has a sense of touch, quality with the ball, and he fought a lot. He played really good!”
No other teenager has even been given two appearances by Guardiola this season, and so Mukasa’s six outings feels like a big show of faith from the Man City manager in his ability and his potential.
Leicester will be hoping to see some of that themselves over the next few months.
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