Manchester City may have the most productive academy in football right now, but as Pep Guardiola’s side lurch from one defeat to the next during an unprecedented crisis, they are their “lost team ” of Cole Palmer, Michel Olise, Morgane Rogers and many others which aggravate the misery at the Etihad. As the club plans to raid the transfer market in January to find costly solutions to their growing problems, the reality is starting to set in: They had the answers all along, but decided to let them work for someone another one.
City, the first team in English football history to win a fourth consecutive title last season, have now lost nine of their last 12 matches in all competitions. They sit seventh in the Premier League, 12 points behind leaders Liverpool – who have played a game less – and face a crucial UEFA Champions League clash against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes next month with elimination of the competition. real possibility.
As Guardiola tries to find a way out of the worst run of his managerial career, his team looks more and more like a group of players who have run – and won – their race repeatedly. Ilkay Gundogan (34), Kevin De Bruyne (33), Kyle Walker (34), Bernardo Silva (30) and John Stones (30) are all starting to show signs of age catching up with them, while others struggle to get back into shape.
And while Aston Villa striker Rogers sealed another City defeat by scoring the second goal in a 2-1 win for Unai Emery’s side at Villa Park on Saturday, the 22-year-old offered a painful reminder of what City have lost in recent years. Their world-class academy, which boasts a 5-year-younger cohort and surpasses all its Premier League rivals and arguably all major European teams in terms of producing top-level players, has now started working against the club precisely at a time when it should have been laying the foundations for a new period of incredible success.
Rogers, like Chelsea striker Palmer, saw his talent identified and honed at City’s academy as a youngster. This is what, among others, Olise of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid did Brahim DiazTottenham Hotspur Pedro PorroIpswich Town striker Liam Delapthat of Barcelona Eric Garciathat of Borussia Dortmund Felix Finish and Palmer’s teammates at Stamford Bridge Jadon Sancho, Romeo Lavia And Tosin Adarabioyo.
Defender Taylor Harwood Bellis and goalkeeper James Trafford have also progressed quickly into the England team after leaving City for Southampton and Burnley, respectively.
All of the above emerged during Guardiola’s tenure as manager and evolved when it became clear that their prospects for first-team football would be better elsewhere.
Palmer, who became one of the Premier League’s best players and a world-class talent at Chelsea, was the one who made headlines ‘the one that got away’ as Guardiola sanctioned the 40 million departure of pounds from the 21-year-old in August. 2023 as he was unable to satisfy the young striker’s appetite for regular football. The manager has since argued that he simply couldn’t give Palmer what he wanted, with Silva, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden And Jeremy Doku all blocking his path to the team, but with 36 goals and 21 assists in 64 appearances for Chelsea, Palmer has shown time and time again that City and Guardiola made a huge mistake in not finding a way to keep him.
Rogers left City the same summer as Palmer, joining EFL Championship side Middlesbrough after loan spells at West Brom, Lincoln, AFC Bournemouth and Blackpool, but within six months he had done enough to earn a move to Villa for a fee of £8m rising to £15m, with City taking 25% of the transfer fee. Rogers is now a regular in Villa’s first team and a senior England international, but Guardiola has defended his decision to let him leave 18 months ago.
“It’s a team that won the treble,” Guardiola said of his team which limited Rogers’ first-team opportunities. “Of course, everyone knows how good Morgan is, but in this era we currently have the players who allowed us to create the most successful eight years in the history of football.”
City can rightly point out that their academy has enjoyed unprecedented success in the ten years since the club moved to the Etihad campus and invested huge sums in the project. Producing their own talent was part of the plan drawn up by City’s owners in Abu Dhabi to ensure the club would eventually move away from expensive signings and develop their own.
According to Transfer marketCity have generated £363m in transfer fees from offloading homegrown players since 2014, accounting for almost half of their overall transfer revenue of £773m.
However, the profits made by academy players are now starting to look like a false economy. City have benefited, but a smarter outlook could prompt more patience with young players and allow them to develop and take the final step into the Etihad first team.
City have so much wealth that it has been too easy to sign a player from the top flight and integrate him straight into the team rather than offering Palmer, Rogers, Lavia and others a patient path towards the team. They lacked patience, or worse yet, failed to recognize the potential that others quickly developed elsewhere.
Sir Alex Ferguson ruthlessly turned to star players and title winners in the mid-1990s to ensure that Manchester United’s class of 1992 – David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Gary and Phil Neville – had the space needed to become the first. team stars. Ferguson and United were rewarded in 1999 with the treble.
Liverpool have developed some great young players during the Premier League era, including Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard and Trent Alexander-Arnoldwho all had time to establish themselves in the team.
Over the years, neither United nor Liverpool have been bothered by a young player who has found success elsewhere. They kept their best young people and made them greats of the club.
The city took a different path. Their youngsters have become victims of the club’s success and Guardiola’s loyalty to his former stars is starting to come at a high price.
City need new blood to revive their team, but if they had shown more patience with Palmer, Rogers, Lavia, Adarabioyo and Olise, they would not be looking for answers at the moment because the future of the team would already be assured.
