3 Youngsters Who Could Make the Grade at Manchester City Under Pep Guardiola

Manchester City’s academy, the City Football Academy (CFA), has been open for 21 months and is beginning to impress.

Brian Marwood oversaw its creation, travelling the world to draw inspiration from top sport and music academies before finalising plans on the £150 million facility. The club wanted an academy that had its own identity and culture but one that was grounded in the same idea as La Masia in Barcelona, where every age group is encouraged to play a distinct brand of football in preparation for life in the first team.

It’s an attacking style that involves hard work and high pressing without the ball and quick passing and sharp movement with it. Pep Guardiola’s senior side is gradually becoming known for that approach—but across the club’s academy, at every age group, the process of playing that way has been implemented for some time.

And they are having huge success. Last season saw City win trophies at almost every age level. They are producing players with exceptional technical qualities who can pass the ball intelligently, play between the lines and are dangerous in one-on-one situations.

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Kelechi Iheanacho, Manu Garcia, Bersant Celina, Angelino, Cameron Humphreys, Aleix Garcia, Tosin Adarabioyo, David Faupala, Brandon Barker, Pablo Maffeo and Brahim Diaz have all made first-team appearances since the new academy was opened in December 2014, but for most of those names, their involvement has been brief.

City want to get to a stage where their academy is supplementing their senior squad more readily, and the results and performances across the CFA suggest that will happen sooner rather than later.

Cult hero Uwe Rosler’s son Colin has made it to scholar level, and Tommy Doyle, grandson of City legends Mike Doyle and Glyn Pardoe, is also impressing. Pardoe holds the record for being the youngest player to appear for the City first team, aged 15 years and 314 days.

There are high hopes for England under-17 international Jadon Sancho, a player with remarkable feet whose goal against Croatia under-17s in September has to be seen to be believed, as well as Phil Foden, Joel ­Latibeaudiere, Curtis Anderson and Ian Poveda-Campo.

This batch of young players is exciting academy staff, perhaps more than any other in the club’s history.

"

@socawarriors What a goal scored by Jadon @Sanchooo10 (of Trinidad and Tobago descent) playing for England U17 https://t.co/XC4InvuUBj

— Andrés López (@andlopdepint) October 6, 2016"

However, the yardstick of a club’s academy is always how players make it into the first team on a regular basis.

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Here are three names Guardiola is most likely to make use of over the next two seasons.

Aleix Garcia

Aleix Garcia joined City from Villarreal in 2015, having played regularly for the Spanish club's B Side. He was considered a player of real potential and had even been handed his Primera Division debut when he came on as a substitute against Athletic Bilbao in 2015.

But just a few weeks later, he made the decision to join City, moving away from familiar surroundings (he had been at Villarreal for 10 years) and risking upsetting the Spanish setup (the country preferring its youngsters to play in their homeland).

Speaking last season to Simon Bajkowski of the Manchester Evening News, Garcia explained the difficulties he had adapting:

"

The main objective was to take this season to adapt myself to City and English football, then for the following season to be ready and available in case the first team consider me.

At the beginning it was difficult because I needed to learn the style of play in England and the intensity is different but to be honest I'm really happy with the season so far.

I think I have [adapted successfully] and now I will focus on working hard and my aim of being a regular in the first team will hopefully come one day.

"

He may lack pace, which many see as a Premier League prerequisite, but his vision and range of passing mean he could well force his way into Guardiola’s thinking as a deep-lying playmaker.

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The 19-year-old has played three times for City’s first team, and he started last season’s FA Cup fifth-round defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

And this season, he appeared as a substitute in the 4-0 win over Bournemouth and impressed before starting the EFL Cup win away at Swansea City a few days later.

He always wants the ball. In his cameo against Bournemouth, he was offering himself to City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo whenever he had the ball, giving him an outlet on the edge of the area. That confidence will play well with Guardiola, who wants his sides to have possession.

But it was in the cup game at Swansea when he really impressed. He scored a goal and won the man-of-the-match award, having showcased his wonderful range of passing.

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With City light on deep-lying midfielders, expect to see him play again in the coming weeks.

Tosin Adarabioyo

“His mind is open," Guardiola said of Tosin Adarabioyo in pre-season. "He listens. He trains every day like it's the last training of his life. And I like a lot to work with these kinds of players. He has his whole career in front of him. Against two tough teams like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, he played really well.”

Adarabioyo, 19, had a fine pre-season and clearly impressed his manager. He was arguably City’s man of the match in the games with Bayern and Dortmund, with his pace and positional sense, as well as the timing of his tackles, underlining his potential.

He’s been at City since the age of five and has been exciting the club’s academy staff for some time. He is seen as exactly what the CFA wants: talented, schooled at the club from a young age, well-rounded and keen to learn.

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There’s a desire to see Adarabioyo make it, and it seems he has caught the eye of Guardiola.

Brahim Diaz

Brahim Diaz made his first-team debut in September's EFL Cup win at Swansea aged just 17. He came on for the final 10 minutes, with City 2-0 up, and although he made little impact, it was a significant gesture from Guardiola to take him to the training camp in Wales with the seniors and then give him time on the pitch.

This is perhaps the player academy staff are most excited about. His form for City's youth teams over the past 18 months has been sensational. His best position is in the No. 10 role, and he excels behind a more physical striker. He beats players with ease, his impudence in possession too much for most defenders his age to handle.

"This is home for me," he said about Manchester and the CFA recently. "The facility is for everyone—not for me [but] for everyone. We try to keep working hard, to prepare, to be with the first team one day, and that's our objective.

"It's amazing, the academy. You've seen the facilities. I'm really happy in Manchester. My family are happy in Manchester."

City will certainly hope so. He's young and diminutive at present, but they are doing everything they can to ensure he gets opportunities to show what he can do at the highest level.

If City don't make a player of Diaz, they will surely feel they have failed.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and follows the club from a Manchester base. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Follow him on Twitter @RobPollard_.