Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will be casting a close eye over developments involving one of the club’s most promising youth players after suggestions that he has a bad attitude.
City signed Juma Bah in a €6 million deal from Real Valladolid in January 2025 in a move that was overshadowed by the club’s record-breaking winter transfer window that saw the likes of Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Kodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis join the club.
Bah has spent his 18 months since joining Guardiola’s side out on loan in Ligue 1, first with Lens for six months and now with Ineos-owned Nice. And it appears he will not leave a good impression in the south of France.
Juma Bah causes substitution controversy
Bah, 19, was one of three Nice players replaced at half-time during last weekend’s 3-1 loss against Strasbourg. Claude Puel’s side trailed 3-0 at that point.
Along with Sofiane Diop and Isak Jansson all three refused to join their team-mates on the bench for the second half.
Nice are hovering just above the relegation zone, four points clear of the playoff spot with six matches of the season remaining. Having won only eight points from their last nine games, alarm bells are ringing and the attitude of the Strasbourg three, Bah included, has been called out.
One club source quoted by Nice Matin says: “We won’t get out of this with players who only think about themselves. Enough is enough now!”
How will City react?
Man City’s attitude towards the Bah incident is likely to monitor the player’s reaction in future matches.
Guardiola has typically been sympathetic to players who have reacted angrily to being replaced. Erling Haaland, for example, had a fiery reaction to being taken off against Wolves after scoring four times in a Premier League clash last May, but there was no long-term damage.
When Sergio Aguero fumed after being withdrawn early in the second half against Spurs in a 2017/18 Premier League clash, Guardiola explained: “I don’t want to hurt the players, believe me. I understand them because I was a football player. They want to play but I have to take the decisions.”
Bah is not a player of the stature of Haaland or Aguero, but at just 19 years old, he is likely to be given some slack. So long as the outburst isn’t part of a pattern of poor behaviour, he is likely to be forgiven back at City.
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