Part of [Thomas] Krucken's philosophy is to create "players of the future."
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...one of Europe's premier talent factories.
The benefit in Guardiola looking to the academy for new players is that, from an early age, City's young players are taught the basics of what it takes to play in his team and so the transition period can be relatively short.
"Coming through the academy, you learn about how a City player should play," [Oscar] Bobb told ESPN in April. "Things like where you're supposed to move. ..."
"He's a player who comes from the academy," Guardiola said on [James] McAtee's prospects of playing first team football this season. "He knows all the process and how he moves in the pockets. When you find players in the small spaces that attack the final thirds, have a sense of goal, it is difficult to find these sorts of players. McAtee has that quality..."
"The speed of the game has increased: if you compare a game with a game 20 years ago, it's very different," says Krucken. "This is our idea of creating the future player because we are sure the speed of the game will keep increasing. ...That means thinking now about what an under-10 player will need in 10 years. This is always the challenge for an academy."
Not everyone who passes through City's academy over the next decade will play for the first team. The level required to break through at a club that wants to win the Champions League every year is extremely high and for some it will be out of reach.
City, though, have become masters at ensuring that those who don't make the grade earn moves to other clubs, often for big fees. Sources have told ESPN that the club has agreed deals which could total £276m for academy graduates over the last five years alone. This summer, Taylor Harwood-Bellis joined Southampton for £20m while Liam Delap signed for Ipswich Town for £15m. Cole Palmer moved to Chelsea for £42.5m in 2023.
It means that if City do eventually choose to use the transfer market to replace Álvarez, there's money to spend without having to walk the tightrope of the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules.
