Top 5 Manchester City academy graduates
Manchester City has experienced a remarkable rise to the summit of English football. Since Sheikh Mansour's takeover in 2008, the club has enjoyed a sizeable upturn in fortune. In fact, they were arguably the most successful English team in the last decade winning two FA Cups, four League Cups, and four Premier League titles in that time frame. In two of those Premier League winning seasons, the club amassed two record tallies of 100 and 98 points in the Premier League in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons, including an unprecedented domestic treble last season.
Manchester City's sublime rise to the summit of English football is further proof that bad times don't last.
A lot of City's success initially came at the expense of the youth with the club being more than capable of signing world-class players in a competitive market, and not bound to bring youth players through to the first-team squad.
Despite this, some of City's academy products have impressed in recent times. Here, we take a look at the top 5 graduates from Manchester City's esteemed academy.
5. Phil Foden
Born in Stockport, a boyhood City supporter, Phil Foden joined City aged just nine and is one of the very few players who have come through the ranks and made it to the first team. The youngster is one of the most talented young footballers in Europe. Also lovingly referred to as the 'Stockport Iniesta' by the City faithful, despite Foden just beginning to be integrated into the senior team, he already looks like the real deal.
The Englishman already holds the record for Manchester's City's youngest ever Champions League goalscorer and the youngest English goalscorer to score in the knockout stages of the competition, aged, just 18 years and 288 days.
The fans and the hierarchy at City evidently consider Foden as the face of the next generation of players at the club.
Even Pep Guardiola once stated that the 19-year-old is the most talented young player he has ever managed. Judging by that and considering the players' the Catalan has coached, this lad surely is something special. At 19 years of age, Foden is already considered the rightful successor of a City great, and one of the finest midfielders in modern football, David Silva.