One of the single biggest criticisms of Manchester City over the last few years has been the lack of talent emerging from the youth system and being given an opportunity in the side. Instead of producing young home-grown talents, The Blues have brought in established players from abroad instead in a bid to win titles and trophies. Now though, that could all be about to change.
It’s been happening for a couple of years now, but no-one really noticed it at first. Behind the scenes, what City were doing was bringing in young talents aged around 16-17 with little to no media coverage, and developing them here. So instead of the side being completely full of local Mancunians, there are Spaniards, Frenchmen and youngsters from across Europe and the world in the youth sides.
One of the earliest known incomings was Marcos Lopes, who joined from Benfica in the summer of 2012. At the time he was very much and unknown quantity to anyone without a knowledge of Portuguese youth football, yet made his debut just six months later, scoring within minutes of coming on in his first game against Watford. He’s made a spattering of appearances since then and is currently enjoying a loan spell in France with Lille.
However there was someone who came in even before Rony Lopes, who’s been kept quiet since – José Angel Pozo. He grew up in the youth system of Spanish giants Real Madrid before City took an interest aged 15. Reports went around in the gossip columns that he was set to sign for The Blues once he became eligible but since then there has been very little in the way of coverage. He’s suffered with injuries that threatened his opportunities but has played a lot in the youth teams. This week he was given his opportunity in the senior squad, playing half an hour and scoring the sixth in a 7-0 rout of Sheffield Wednesday.
Those two – Lopes and Pozo – are just the ones that have made in impact so far. There’s lots of other players who’ve had an impact in the youth and under-21 sides who haven’t even been mentioned yet – Seko Fofana, Matias Bossaerts, Devante Cole (now on loan at Barnsley). There’ll be more than a few making their debut and going on further in the next couple of years.
A factor that will really help City in their development of youth talents has been the improvement in loaning. It seriously seems that City have identified the bright stars from the academy and are now making sure they develop as much and as best they can. A lot of these players have gone out on loan to play more than they would if they sat in the same squad as City’s stars. Karim Rekik is in his second season on loan at PSV Eindhoven and playing most weeks. Marcos Lopes is with Lille and doing the same. Jason Denayer, a Belgian defender about whom there is a lot of excitement, is on loan at Celtic and doing quite well. Those are just a few of the major youth names, but others like Devante Cole are plying their trade away from the club on a temporary basis.
Eventually, the benefits of bringing players in from the continent and elsewhere will really start to show over the next few years. Not only will they count as homegrown, given they’ll have been here from the age of 16 or 17, and they’ll be used to the physicality of the English game, but they will bring something different to the time, that uniqueness that England seem to be lacking at all levels, but something that other nations have in abundance. As City go for more league titles and the Champions League over the next few years, that will be key in their fight.
The names mentioned so far in this article are just the latest wave of youth talent to come through – or be expected to come through. At lower levels there are players who could well be stars in sky blue in the future. Last year The Blues signed 14-year-old wonderkid Brahim Abdelkader from Malaga, beating Barcelona to his signature even after the Catalans introduced the youngster to Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi. Despite his age, he’s already fitting into the under-17 side. Another youngster who signed last year is Zacharias Faour, dubbed “the new Zlatan Ibrahimović”.
There are even reports of there being an 11-year-old in the youth sides of City who can be “better than Messi” according to reports. High praise indeed.
It’s important for City to try and bring these youth players through into a side that can succeed. Many of City’s senior stars aren’t getting any younger and will eventually be moving on. When they do they’ll need replacements; there is a genuine feeling in the academy that these replacements can come from there.
