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The Premier league witnessed some scintillating football by Manchester City last season. A consistent display of some spectacular football saw them achieve an unprecedented tally of 100 points.
As good as it was for the men in sky blue, the 2017-18 season is nothing but a step towards glory. Pep Guardiola, as well as the City hierarchy, is aware of the fact that it will be the coming seasons that will play a crucial role in their bid to establish themselves as one of England's best and it's about time that City begin to exploit a very wise investment made by the owners - The City Football Academy. The missing piece of the puzzle that will transform City from mere investors to a self-sufficient club.
Overview
The initial years of the takeover saw the Abu-Dhabi group investing heavily in restructuring club's youth setup. As a result, a £200 million state of the art training facility stands tall in the Etihad campus. The Academy has been producing an array of talent lately to no avail.
Great teams like Manchester United and Liverpool have overseen one or the other of their academy graduates take up the centre stage for the first team at some point. The most recent examples have been Trent Alexander-Arnold for Liverpool and Marcus Rashford for Manchester United.
Meanwhile, Manchester City have indeed produced some quality players only to sell or loan them to other teams instead of incorporating them into the first team.
Academy Structure
Today, CFA is one of the best academies in England. The academy boasts the best training facility, equipment as well as staff available in the country.
The player development scheme implemented by the academy is a perfect blend of the best features adopted from the training regimes of various academies all across Europe.
Personalised training programs are a recurring feature at the academy. The highlight, though, is the club's strategy to field their players of younger age groups in competitions involving players of older age groups. This exposure ensures that the players can adapt to a harsher and more demanding league environment on their introduction to first-team football. The results have been positive with academy graduates like Phil Foden being able to cope up with the nature of the Premier League.
The academy continues to excel under former La Masia supremo Rodolfo Borell. It is the incorporation of the graduates into the first team that is under scrutiny.
Current Scenario
Pep Guardiola started out as a La Masia graduate himself and made it to the first team. After a successful career as a player, the Catalan returned to Barcelona as a manager only to win the Champions League in his maiden season. The highlight of his victory was his decision to field no fewer than 7 La Masia graduates in his first ever European final. During his time with Barcelona, he often reiterated his desire to incorporate an academy graduate in the first team instead of making an expensive purchase.
So despite having Pep at the helm, the recent spending spree to bring in players instead of introducing graduates to the team setup highlights the club's failure to bridge the gap between the first team and the elite development squad. Talented youngsters like Tosin Adarabioyo are third or fourth choice behind expensive signings like John Stones or Aymeric Laporte.
Guardiola once stated that Spanish sides make their reserves play against a crowd which allows them to have a better understanding of the game which is not the case with English Clubs. This point shall be considered. Still, many English clubs have successfully implemented this model and so shall Manchester City because the departure of high profile academy graduates like Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund) and most recently, Pablo Maffeo (Stuttgart) in search of first-team football continues to mar the club's reputation.
Sancho was the first of the academy graduates to refuse a professional contract with the club due to a dispute over game time. His decision to leave City for Borussia Dortmund has been a good one and has seen the youngster's integration to the first team setup for the German outfit. In his 12 appearances for the club, the young English Striker has four assists and a goal to his name.
Similarly, Manchester City's decision to let Pablo Maffeo leave came under scrutiny. City fans were not happy with this decision as well. The young Spanish right-back had an exceptional season for Girona. His marking of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the La Liga encounters, in particular, was the highlight of his loan spell. Manchester City had recently spent a fee in the region of £50 million for Kyle Walker, and Maffeo would have been a sound backup to the Englishman. Other graduates like Jason Denayer al share a similar story.
Conclusion
City's triumph last season may have been all about sheer quality and hard work, but the current Manchester City side is the best-assembled squad all across Europe. With millions spent to bring in the best talent available, this the least City are expected to achieve.
The club needs to understand the significance of the academy and its graduates for they are the resources the club can always fall back on. The Club needs to nurture and incorporate them into the side for it's not just winning trophies but the way the club wins them defines the club and its legacy. Otherwise, the club may become a successful club, but the title of a great club will elude them for eternity.
