Manchester City Looking to the Long Term with Use of Kelechi Iheanacho and Co.

The last time Manchester City and Roma played, the circumstances were far more important than they were in Tuesday's International Champions Cup match in Melbourne, Australia.

City's 2-0 win in Rome back in December gave them three crucial points that saw them qualify from their Champions League group and take their place in the last 16 of the competition for the second consecutive season. After a poor group campaign, City produced a wonderful 90-minute display to move through to the knockout phase by the narrowest of margins.

City won Tuesday's encounter 5-4 on penalties after a 2-2 draw. Raheem Sterling scored his first goal for the club inside three minutes of his debut, and Kelechi Iheanacho bagged their second in the second half.

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It was an exercise in improving the fitness of the players rather than anything more significant. There were no crucial Champions League qualification scenarios facing either side, just points in the International Champions Cup table. But for City's young players, who are being given chances to impress by Manuel Pellegrini, it was one of the most important occasions of their careers to date and represents a new direction for a football club so often derided for their approach to youth.

The takeover of City in 2008 saw the leap from their academy to the senior side increase dramatically. City had gone from near bankruptcy to a side trying to buy the best players in the world. The jump in quality on City's playing staff was marked. Their academy had provided them with first-team players for years, but now it was going to take something special for others to follow suit.

City's inability to produce youngsters fit for their first team is, therefore, understandable, yet criticism has been heard almost across the board. City don't care about youth; they just want to buy ready-made stars—mercenaries who will deliver success in the short term.

Even the opening of their new academy and first-team training centre, the City Football Academy (CFA), at the cost of £150 million didn't see criticism subside. It's the most emphatic statement of intent where youth development is concerned and is undoubtedly the most impressive facility of its kind on England, yet its opening failed to turn the tide of public opinion.

But it's going to get much more difficult to ignore City's clear commitment to youth in the not-too-distant future. Pellegrini has a crop of EDS youngsters at his disposal who look to have the tools needed to deliver. Australia has been the coming of age for so many of them.

It's arguably Iheanacho, 18, who looks the most prepared for the first team. He set up Sterling for the opener against Roma with quite a brilliant pass from deep before scoring with his left after a glaring mistake from Ashley Cole saw him one-on-one with Morgan De Sanctis. 

It was a performance showcasing his array of talents. He has an instinctively good touch, can turn inside and out and has belief in his ability to beat players. City are sat on a gem. Remember the name. 

Jason Denayer, too, looks ready to augment City's senior players. His year on loan at Celtic has done him a world of good. Calm, composed and physically able, he is capable of pushing Vincent Kompany and Eliaquim Mangala for a first-team place. 

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Add to that the silky inventiveness of 17-year-old Manu Garcia, whose intuitive link-up play with David Silva against Roma has seen him receive praise across the board, and Marcos Lopes, who looks to have developed into a fine player dung his season-long loan at Lille, and the picture for City's future looks very bright indeed. 

No club in England has made such a significant investment in youth in recent years, yet a feeling persists that City are a club obsessed with the short term. It's an assessment that is nonsense. City have laid the foundations for their future by building the CFA, and it won't be long before people realise just how serious they are about developing young players. 

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and follows the club from a Manchester base. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.