Manchester City’s youth setup is slowly evolving into one of the best in the world. The Citizens are not exactly known as a club that relies on their own youth, but City’s higher youth teams have shown in recent years that a transition is underway.
Excelling youth must rid Man City of buying club image
In the past five seasons, Manchester City spent more than €700 million on players, according to Transfermarkt figures. Only Chelsea, Juventus, Manchester United and Barcelona spent more. In combination with the low number of youth players who have broken through, City is often labeled a ‘buying club’. But for how long?
| Club | Money spent |
| 1.Chelsea | 1.23 billion |
| 2.Juventus | 887 million |
| 3.Manchester United | 787 million |
| 4.Barcelona | 779 million |
| 5. Manchester City | 708 million |
The Manchester City Academy has made significant strides in recent years. This has led to the higher teams from the youth academy excelling in recent years. On Wednesday evening, Manchester City Under-18s beat the West Ham United Under-18s to become champions of England for the third season in a row. In addition, the Under-21 has also become champion three years in a row.
Slowly but surely, youth products are also breaking through in Manchester, with Phil Foden as the eye-catcher. The winger can count on a regular basis for City this season and has played more than 200 games in the first team, while still only 22 years old. Rico Lewis is also breaking through this season under Pep Guardiola. The eighteen-year-old defender has already played seven Premier League matches in the starting line-up.
Pep Guardiola’s praise
The progress in our own youth academy can therefore also give an impulse to the first team in the long run. Guardiola is therefore closely following the performance at the Academy and congratulated the Under-18s on the title. “They have delivered something special again this season. The way they have played, imposing their game on the opposition and always looking to score more goals is a great representation of the football we want to play at Man City. I would like to congratulate everyone,” said the Catalan manager.
