After my comparison at the weekend between Hughes and Mancini's willingness to introduce new youth talent, the Official City website seem to be running a youth themed week.
Following on from the article about Roberto Mancini and Jim Cassell's dedication to the Academy in which Mancini affirmed what the statistics tell us: "I am a manager who puts a lot of faith in bringing players through the Academy system and who has been pleased to give several City players their chance to play in the first team."
Jim Cassell went on to say, "I like to think that I have left a great legacy of youth development at Platt Lane that can hopefully be built on even further in the future." Whilst the Academy continues to bloom back home, Cassell is taking the City Academy model global with the plan to attract and recruit the best of the world's young talent, whilst also doing a bit of harmless PR to aid the owner's plans for world domination.
It is at this Academy in Abu Dhabi that, perhaps the most promising of our young graduates, Michael Johnson has set a target for a pre-season return. Without him, and a misfiring Ireland, City's central midfield has looked a little one-dimensional at times, and his return would add some of the class and vision needed to break through some teams. He is also a player unafraid to carry the ball from defence into attack - another factor the midfield lacks without him. He is "positive" that he can return strongly for pre-season and City fans will be hoping his torrid injury-ridden spell won't have hampered his progression and potential.
The third piece of academy news in the past two days has been Abdi Ibrahim signing a new four-year contract at City. Abdi is only eighteen and speaks of himself as "a fan as well as a player." This is further good news and more tangible proof of the owner's commitment to youth talent.
As a headline on the Official Website ran the other day - Barcelona are the benchmark - and if this is being taken into the academy too, then the future is bright. If City could be at a stage where they play a Champions League quarter final with seven academy graduates, like Barca did in the first leg against Arsenal, then the club would be in very good health indeed. Perhaps I'm getting a bit carried away, but all this focus on the academy can only be good for the club.
My previous article can be found here.
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