You are not wrong, because Man City's most feared thing does not come from Pep Guardiola's stars. Instead, it comes from their endless “cash printer”.
Man City's largest selling case this summer may be James Mcatee, a 22 -year -old midfielder from the Academy, who was played for the first team but could not squeeze deeper.
The performance of the MCatee at the Green Man as well as the U21 U21 team in the U21 European Cup recently helped him become a sought -after name. Many teams in the UK, Germany and Italy are ready to spend £ 25 million to bring MCatee to leave Etihad.
MCatee has experience in the first team, but the fact that many other players of Man City Academy are also highly valued even though they have never kicked in the first team.
Up to now, Man City has earned about 8 million pounds from selling Jacob Wright to Norwich and Farid Alfa-Ruprecht to Leverkusen. Although never kicked the one or two players, they still bring a small transfer fee, and more importantly, Man City added a provision of future profits if they were sold.
One of the reasons for clubs are willing to invest in young players from Man City Academy is because most of them play successfully when they are playing frequently, showing the professionalism, discipline and techniques that are honed at Etihad Campus is really effective.
The three transfer deals this summer are clearly showing that. First, Liam Delap left Man City to join Ipswich Town last summer, even though there were only 170 minutes for the first team. He immediately shone in the Premier League, scoring 12 goals despite the relegation, and was bought by Chelsea for £ 30 million.
Second, James Trafford, though never played for the first team, moved to Burnley and developed dramatically, even summoned to England. Currently, Trafford is on his way to Newcastle for more than £ 30 million.
Finally, although Man City has nothing from Jamie Gittens moving to Chelsea, this winger is still a typical example for a Man City Academy player to shine after leaving the club, standing out in Dortmund before returning to the Premier League.
So what do they say? All these success stories show the quality of Man City Academy. They produce players who are willing to play the top football, despite not qualifying to squeeze the too high level of Guardiola.
This is actually a positive signal for the acquisition clubs, because they can trust that the players from Man City Academy, although they do not have the first team experience, still have a solid foundation to develop. That helps Man City continue to sell young players with very high prices – turning the academy into a most effective business model in Europe.
And this is the most frightening thing of Man City. With such operating, the spot of the Green Man is always strong. It is no different from an enterprise that owns an economic moat, the goods are always “as expensive as fresh shrimp” compared to competitors, even if the price is not cheap.
From this launcher, Man City knows how to re -invest wisely thanks to the scientific and methodical strategy. They are exactly an old fox in the transfer market, though very money but never accepted the price or expensive.
It was rich, so it was difficult to expect one day Man City to “collapse” in the near future, even though Guardiola left. Green Man is building an empire, and it will definitely last, very long.
MU wants to “retake” Manchester? Dreaming about that anymore.
