The next Lionel Messi could light up Hyde when an exciting new youth football venture kicks off in September.
Manchester City are one of 16 top clubs from around Europe taking part in the new NextGen Series tournament aimed at showcasing some of the world’s brightest young football talent next season.
And the Blues kick off their group with the best possible fixture, against the legendary Barca youth team, on September 15.
City will also face Celtic and Marseille in their group in the new tournament, with group games running until November, and then the top two from each group going forward to the last eight.
That will either be played as a normal knockout or as a mini-tournament, based in Abu Dhabi in the new year.
Rumour
City’s participation in the Under-19 competition had led to a rumour that they were about to scrap their reserve side, which is nowadays called the elite development squad.
But, while they have withdrawn from the Barclay’s Premier Reserve League, the club insists it has simply shaken up its fixture schedule to attune it more to the differing development levels of their 18-21-year-olds.
The City team will consist mainly of academy players, augmented by players like Harry Bunn and Joan Roman, who were promoted early to the elite development squad.
City academy boss Mark Allen says the young Blues, currently away on their summer break, are already excited about the new challenge, which also involves Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa as well as big European names like Inter Milan, Sporting Lisbon and PSV Eindhoven.
“Fans who go along might just see the next Lionel Messi – and the Barca fans might get to see a future great Man City player,” said Allen, currently overseeing a revamp of the City academy.
The Blues, along with the rest of the Premier League, are aiming to close the gap between English players and those from top football nations like Spain and Holland, in the next few years.
And Allen sees this tournament as a good gauge of how big that gap is, and what needs to be done to close it – with Barcelona as the perfect yardstick.
The Catalan giants’ nursery – known as the Cantera, or Quarry – has been producing golden nuggets for years.
The current European Cup-winning side is built around home-grown stars like Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi. Not only have they made Barca the best side on the planet, they have done it without a penny in transfer outlay, an attractive proposition with UEFA’s financial fair play rules forcing City to revise their transfer spending policy.
Said Allen: “The group we are in will put us against three different styles, which is what you expect to get in senior European football, so it’s another part of the development.
“The first team is now hoping to have European football, and hopefully Champions League, every season, so we are building a European element into our development programme.
“We will do it the same way as the first team, flying out the day before, training the night before, playing and then flying back after the match.”
He strongly refuted the suggestion that the reserve side is being scrapped. “Far from the reserves going away, it is actually getting stronger and more focused, and what the fans will see is more relevant football for that development stage,” said Allen.
City have studied Barcelona’s youth development, as well as those of other successful set-ups around the world, and are hoping to become a category one Academy under the Premier League’s elite player performance plan.
That would allow them to significantly step up the amount of time they get to spend with young prospects, which has been identified as a key area in which England lags behind more progressive nations.
The latest inquest began after England Under-21s’ poor showing at the European Championships last week, with the FA’s director of development Trevor Brooking blaming a flawed education system.
At the moment the average elite English player spends 3,760 hours training or playing between the ages of nine and 21. That compares to 4,880 at Barcelona or 5,940 in Holland.
New rules may allow the top clubs to cherry-pick the best young prospects and take young players as boarders, opting out of mainstream education.
That would ape Barcelona’s La Masia, the converted 18th century farmhouse which sits in the shadow of the Nou Camp and accommodates their 13 and 14 year olds.
“Barcelona’s set-up is the talk of the town at the moment,” said Allen. “We have looked at their set-up from the outside, and a little bit from within as we have a good working relationship with Barca.
“What they do really well is that they do a lot of simple things repetitively so that they become ingrained, and stay ingrained right through the system.
“That is what is bringing them success right now – they have a very clear philosophy and style of play, and a very clear technical strategy in terms of what they do. It is not rocket science.
“Where they excel is on the technical side, as Trevor Brooking has been saying.
“They don’t move on until they are technically adept, and that is the big thing to learn for everyone in football, not just at City.
“It’s about finessing the technical game, and that is why in our younger age groups, from six to 11, we are very much geared to a technical programme where they get time on the ball.
“It’s less about what position they play, how big they are and so on. It’s more about feeling comfortable with the ball, feeling comfortable turning with the ball, shooting, passing and dribbling.
“Those things are a pre-requisite to moving on to the other aspects.”
What do you think? Have your say.
Manchester City: We’ll follow Barca blueprint
June 22, 2011
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Top clubs? Villa, Spurs, the dippers...
Well, wouldn't you want to have the FA youth cup winners in a such a tournament?
I think we should create our own blue print. Exactly like Barcelona's only we won't teach the kids to dive, kick out at other players or surround the referee at every available opportunity
From what i've seen so far, no, we will not. : (
Good and about time too!! The future is bright... The future is Sky Blue!!!!
If it's good enough for Barcelona, then it has to be a project which City can copy and benefit from.
Doesn't fit with the conspiracy theories of the " doubters " within the fans who have predicted the end of players from within the club making it into the first team .
If there were any doubts that City are moving in the right direction on many fronts is surely dispelled with the introduction of this latest initiative.
It has been proven to be the best way.
So until something better comes along let's adapt.
Must be 25 years now I have been hearing about city's 'fantastic youth set up' and I am still waiting to see anything other than extremely average players emerge from it.
Meanwhile we keep turning out top class league winning players from our quiet little academy and find ourselves once again as the youth cup holders with the best young player on the country in our ranks (ravel morrison) At the end of the day the best kids want to play for the best clubs and city come about 17th on most kids wish list when the knock on the door comes
FANTASTIC!!! At last an owner,club & management that can see the bigger picture. For years now English(for that is what I am,not just British) youngsters involved in football have been stagnating while other nations have been innovating & improving their methods to gain the march on us. Hopefully in time,and it will take a long time,be in no doubt about that,Manchester City F.C. will be hailed as THE club that initiated a skills & training revolution that saved English domestic & international football from mediocrity. I believe that could possibly be the one of the largest feathers to adorn our cap,and cement our place in footballing folklore,something Mr K.Barnes,Mr J.Mercer & Mr M. Allison et al, would approve & be proud of.
Interesting, but where is the transfer exclusives???!!!!! AAAAArrrrgghhhh
Sounds like we have got a plan and strategy and we are sticking to it.
Agree with pulling out of the reserve league to play reserve / youth european football. Whats the point in playing other bobbins reserve sides when you will learn far more playing european teams.
If city bring through a couple of world class footballers in the nest few years then this will have been a master stroke.
first we try to copy united by signing their ex-players, then we try to copy united by signing their ex-players as coaches and trainers, then we get their ex-player as a manager. now we're even trying to copy clubs who've beaten them in a competition. obviously with their 19 league titles they are the benchmark, and we're fed up of standing in their shadow, but this is going too far. we're in danger of being obsessed with them !!
Just goes to show we are moving the club forward at all levels not just the senior squad - youth development, ground/area development around eastlands all goes to show the Sheikh is here to stay.
I am so proud to be a blue
When I was younger I was mystified by the media's love for Mr Brooking. As far as I good see he did one or two things well and wore a suit (a bit like Mr Beckham) but he was an ever present at many dismal England showings. I can see that he would like our youngsters to be like trained monkeys learning everything by repetition. That would strangle all individual skill and invention out of our young players. I don't believe that is what Barca are doing at La Masia. I remember that City's academy was the talk of the world until Jim was lifted to another place. He set the blueprint and with the funds that are now available he would have produced players equal to those from Barca.
Just wondering why don't we start playing our youth player Joan Angel Roman next season, he's an absolutely brilliant player. He's pretty similar to Silva and is Spanish so you know what type of player he's going to be. If you haven't seen this guy play then just search him on Youtube or the official site. Joan is only 17 but I think he is good enough to play quite a few games next season, as a sub.
Jim Cassel,enough said.
Stuart Pierce and his abysmal U 21 side prove that English football is going backwards, not forwards ...........
Setting up our Youth policy to play and adapt to European football has to be the way forward, great opportunity for young players to improve from playing more European competitions and of course the financial advantages of producing more talent from the Youth policy makes a lot of sense.
Football at grass roots has been stuck in the Dinosaur years for decades in England, it's literally not moved with the times. Dictionary definition of the word "Dinosaur" is "EXTINCT reptile" - just replace the word "reptile" with "football" in the case of English FA Tutelage, indeed go further and replace the abreviation "FA" with "**** All" - 'cos the reality is - that's exactly what the old farts at the FA have done about Football Education at the younger age level for decades, hence our Dinosaur-like existance in terms of development when compared to other, more forward-thinking nations around Europe & beyond that have moved with the times.
Let's not beat around the bush here, talk is cheap. Ask yourself - Trevor Brooking - what's he and many other colleagues done for the game in this country at ALL levels of Football apart from earn a big fat crusty Salary for himself ?
I mean one perfect example of their imcompetence was the ON / OFF shambles that was the new "Football School of Excellence" that never got off the ground due to financial (& other non-footballing reasons) issues. Not sure where it's at now, someone may be able to enlighten us all. But the fact is - venues/facilities such as these are only the start of Football Education (Stage 1), and are merely a base to Educate & Train, and if you haven't got that to kick off with then you can't even begin to plan & consider Stage 2 (the coaching staff & methods they use) without a physical base & grounds.
Not unlike general Politics & Government in Great Britain, Football leadership & Governance, specifically their AIMS (what they're employed to achieve - ironically) take second stage to the Office of Power Brokers who are earning fat wages to deliver a poor product. Something that is obviously prioritised differently and more successfully in more developed Footballing Countries across the globe. Until the ENGLISH FA begin to move with the times and decide to think about the FOOTBALL PRODUCT BEFORE THEIR OWN BACK POCKETS then sadly English Football will continue to lag behind more forward-thinking nations. SAD BUT TRUE.
As a CITY FAN I am glad to hear that, as a club, MY club appear to be "....moving with the times....", unlike the English FA big wigs, and if that's what it takes - private Companies (ie. professional Football Clubs such as City & others) - to bring our Country more into line with successful Footballing Nations at ALL levels of coaching then so be it.
If & when the Footballing Education that City (& other pro. clubs) appear to be trying to develop bears Fruit, then the ONLY shame will be that the OLD FARTS at the FA, that have done little or nothing to develop our game, will probably be STILL IN POWER EARNING AN (undeserved) FAT CRUST for doing ZIP ALL.
(above opinions) COME FROM A LOYAL GAME-GOING FAN THAT CARES ABOUT "OUR" GAME (both Club & Country).
CTiD............Martin Bebbington (Season Ticket LIFER).
Not sure about producing another Messi but you could certainly rustle up some Methy's......
To late.
Qjumper (@10.27) I don't think it works like that! I posted something a new days ago, but it seems that there is more to this approach than "repetition" the way you seem to mean it. It's about teaching certain skills to a level where they are natural. I can't remember the figures I read, but at Barca the training they use increases the time a typical platyer is "in contact with a ball" in a typical season by about 14-16X. Another issue is the playing of 11 aside games on full size pitches for small kids - or I should say *not* doing. The philosophy is quite interesting - and it's starting to dominate the discussion at the moment simply because it's impossible to dismiss the difference in class between say Spain and England. And guess who is using these techniques and who isn't?
Thing is you don't need money to follow the Barca blueprint so how City going to handle a situaiton with the classless Gary Cook leading the charge that doesn't involve squandering the Sheiks money????
What they have takes years, to be honest its not in the DNA of our managers, FA etc to produce these types of players, what they have now is three very very special players with no guarantee that will continue its all down to the scouts.
United had it with 92 youth team but this is only being repeated now with the current crop coming thru in the next two years.
You're nearly their anyway like Barca you don't play with Centre forwards either!!!! Only joking!!!!
Unfortnately we cannot expect the next Lionel Messi to come form England as we just don't produce players who are technically that great in this country. Case in poinnt being Silva compared to Milner.
A nice factual article for a change instead of the usual rumour mill stuff. Any young City lads involved in this competition must be overjoyed and what great preparation for those that make the grade and move up to the next level. We should soon find out about the quality of the young lads at City once the this competition reaches its latter stages - will City be using this comp as a development exercise or are we going all out to win it. Personally I hope it's the latter because any kind of success breeds further success.
time to re-sign Gudetti then.
To be honest that Harry Bunn kid has more the face a young Joey Barton than a Lionel Messi! Very much doubt we will get the top top talent, but fingers crossed ey!