Manchester City, a world class academy for other football teams?

Manchester City is one of the most famous cases of clubs that were not among the top in their countries and, thanks to a significant financial investment from an external entity, came to be considered one of the best clubs in the world. And perhaps that has come to the point of sacrificing youth development.

To give us an idea of the change, before the investment from UAE in 2008, the citizen club had only won two English first division leagues in 114 years. After the investment, they have won 4 English Premier League in 12 years. The investment made by the City Group in Manchester City, its flagship club, has been impressive, ranging from world-class players to a new sports city with all the first-rate amenities.

The Manchester City academy has benefited considerably from the fact that it has managed to improve the training facilities, the scouting network worldwide and the hiring of very good coaches for its youth teams. All these factors combine has led them to produce many talents in recent years.

Currently, the flagship player of the Manchester City academy in the first team is Phil Foden, a talented attacking midfielder. Foden has shown his ability and talent despite he usually plays much less than other Man City’s players such as Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez or Ferran Torres. As a result, the player has shown his discomfort in recent days and there is even talk of his possible departure from Manchester City.

This could bring back some bad memories to Manchester City fans since it would not be the first time the Citizen lose a young talented player. It is enough to remember the case of the Borussia Dortmund winger, Jadon Sancho, formed at Manchester City but was signed at the age of 17 by the German club and today he is one of the best in his position.

Other similar cases are Brahim Díaz, who left the club due to lack of minutes to play and today is on loan to AC Milan although he belongs to Real Madrid or Denis Suárez, who is with Celta de Vigo but has played for clubs like Arsenal FC, FC Barcelona or Sevilla FC. Even Eric García, current Manchester City center back, who may ends his contract at the end of this season, is in a similar situation to Phil Foden. According to the rumors, Eric Garcia may join FC Barcelona.

It seems that Manchester City is capable of producing great players. However, it also seems that the Citizens are incapable of giving those players enough time and trust to bring them to another level. and, paradoxically, it is always other football clubs which say thank you!