The Manchester City academy has always been able to graduate top players. It’s just that it is very rare for a player to graduate from City Football Academy to become a club mainstay. Never mind being the icons of The Citizens, academy graduates tend not to get regular playing minutes, losing to the stars who were brought in during the transfer window.
City academy graduates do not get a place, especially after Sheikh Mansour arrived in 2008. In the first season of the United Arab Emirates billionaire, a number of homegrown players are still the backbone of the team. Stephen Ireland, Micah Richards, Shaun Wright-Phillips to Nedum Onouha are regularly played by Mark Hughes. Young players like Daniel Sturridge and Ched Evans are often given the opportunity.
Academy graduates were increasingly eliminated when the Mansour regime recruited Roberto Mancini and began seriously pursuing the Premier League trophy. When The Citizens won their first league title in the Premier League era, the former City Football Academy who played regularly was only Micah Richards. The England defender played 28 EPL matches as City clinched the title in 2011/12.
A season later, Richards only played seven times in the league. In 2014, he was loaned to Fiorentina before finishing his contract and moving to Aston Villa. Until 2019/20, Richards became the last academy graduate to play regularly for Man City. During this period, Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini and Pep Guardiola had tried out a number of players. Among them are Karim Rekik, Dedryck Boyata, Kelechi Iheanacho, and Angelino. But none of them really broke into the first team.
City Football Academy only started to show its strength when Phil Foden came to the fore. Foden, generally regarded as the best player in City’s academy and Guardiola’s routine for the past two seasons. The Stockport-born midfielder rarely starts, but he has played 38 games in 2019/20 and 41 games this season.
Foden’s brilliance coincides with the shining of a number of City academy graduates who have moved to other clubs. Jadon Sancho has become one of the best Borussia Dortmund players since 2018/19. Angelino is also growing at RB Leipzig. Apart from these three names, other players such as Kasper Schmeichel, Loris Karius, Denis Suarez, Kieran Trippier, and Kelechi Iheanacho failed to get the chance and chose to leave. Brahim Diaz, one of the promising players in Foden’s generation, also left for Real Madrid and is now on loan from AC Milan.
At the very least, there is clear evidence of the quality of development of Manchester City’s young players, although that doesn’t always benefit the club directly. At the Etihad, too many young players are nervous about waiting for the opportunity to play and choose to try their luck to other clubs. The Sancho case may be a blessing in disguise for Man City. Given the ability he’s shown now, Dortmund’s eight million pounds is a bargain. However, the player’s performance in 2018 is good news for the future of City Football Academy.
Given the massive investment into Man City’s youth development system, the absence of an academy graduate in the title-winning core team is certainly not pleasant. Sheikh Mansour has poured enormous amounts of money into developing the academy. In December 2014, the construction of the Etihad Campus containing an academy, training facilities and other supporting suggestions was inaugurated. This facility is said to be able to accommodate 400 young players at one time. City’s first team and women’s team also train at the complex. Previously, Mansour had invested in developing the Platt Lane complex, where the youth team trained.
In addition, the recruitment of City’s young players is also more active. City Football Academy recruits talented players from other academies, both in England and abroad. Sancho, for example, was brought in from the Watford academy. Meanwhile, Eric Garcia was brought off from La Masia. The Sheikh Mansour regime from the start seriously invested in the development of young players. But the question is, why are so few City Football Academy graduates who become regular players in the first team.
Despite having an expansive recruitment system and supported by qualified facilities, no academy player was able to convince Mancini, Pellegrini, and Guardiola. Guardiola himself stressed that his reluctance to play academy graduates was due to competitive reasons. His success in winning two Premier League titles (soon to be three) is supported by finished products that are brought in with large funds.
“When they (academy players) are talented, they will play. But at the same time, we have to compete every day against the best in England and Europe. For that we need players like David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho. But if the team base is young players, it is impossible [to compete], “Pep told The Guardian, last October 2019.
Phil Foden will likely be the only player of his generation that can penetrate the main team. Although he was brilliant since he was a teenager, Foden, a City supporter since he was a boy, was willing to be patient waiting for an opportunity. Guardiola was a long time admirer of Foden. He has coached young players like Lionel Messi. However, the 50-year-old coach insists that Foden is “the most talented player” he has ever seen.
“He [Foden] has everything to be one of the best players. “I’ve said it on many occasions during press conferences, but maybe haven’t said it in front of the player: Phil is the most, most, most talented player I have seen in my entire career as a manager,” said Pep in 2019. Foden increasingly plays and plays an important role in crucial parties. In the Champions League quarter-finals, he scored two goals against Dortmund. The first goal to ensure the home victory of The Citizens. Meanwhile, the second goal, a surprise shot at the near post that started from a short cornered scheme, ended Borussen’s resistance at Signal Iduna Park.
The match was Foden and Sancho’s chance to reunite after nearly four years apart. But unfortunately, Sancho missed the two legs due to injury. Both of them are undoubtedly the best graduates of City Football Academy in the 21st century. The two players boosted the reputation of the academy which, since the regime of Sheikh Mansour, seemed to have been cut off from the first team. The Man City youth team has made proud achievements in recent years. Last season, The Citizens won the U-18 Professional Development League, U-18 Premier League Cup, and the FA Youth Cup.
A number of talented players took part in the success of the youth team. Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Cole Palmer, Jayden Braaf, James McAtee and Liam Delap are five of them. Will the players follow in Foden’s footsteps? Or, like Sancho and Diaz, will the lack of opportunity to play make them leave? The way Pep develops young players demands extra patience. At Manchester City, so far, not much has been fulfilled.
That’s why Foden’s presence is special for City Football Academy. Phil Foden, apart from possessing extraordinary talent, is also eagerly waiting for the club he loves. In Foden, City found what they had been looking for: a future legend from the academy itself.
ASL
