The 40-man shortlist for the 2021 Golden Boy award has been released, but there was a glaring omission: not a single Manchester City player was included.
The prestigious award, voted for by journalists from across Europe, is given to the best under-21 player from Europe's top leagues. Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland won the award in 2020, with other past winners including Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and City's own Raheem Sterling - although that was during his Liverpool days. The only time a City player has won the award was Mario Balotelli in 2010. At 21 years old, Phil Foden is now too old to be nominated, although he did finish seventh in the 2020 edition.
The City academy graduate first broke into Pep Guardiola's side in 2017/18, but the fact that no other youngsters have followed in his footsteps begs a simple question: why?
Most of Europe's major clubs feature on the list - Bayern Munich have Jamal Musiala, Dortmund have Jude Bellingham and Barcelona have Pedri - and a familiar face in Eric Garcia, who left City for Catalonia at the end of last season.
One explanation is that it is simply much harder for young players to break into the City XI than other clubs, given the mouth-watering talents that Guardiola has at his disposal. But that seems like an over-simplification.
Bayern Munich are not short of world-class players, yet they have managed to bring Musiala through into the first-team set-up, as well as the likes of Alphonso Davies. Borussia Dortmund might not have won the Bundesliga since 2012, but their performance levels have only been aided in recent years by a focus on giving chances to young players, including Haaland and Bellingham.
It appears that Guardiola knows that something has to change. In a bid to encourage the next Phil Foden-esque success story, he promoted City academy graduates Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, and Romeo Lavia to the first team for pre-season. That kind of approach worked wonders for Foden, and there's no reason why it won't prove successful for the trio of youngsters.
Palmer and Lavia have both featured in City's matchday squad on a few occasions this season, most recently the 0-0 draw with Southampton. Delap will join them once he returns from injury.
Every football fan will agree that home-grown talents mean that little bit more to them than expensive signings. When Foden scores for City, you can see how much it means to him, and how much the City faithful love seeing one of their own succeed.
That City have no representatives on the Golden Boy shortlist serves as an indicator of where the club is at in producing its next top talent. The club invested heavily in the City Football Academy a few years ago, so it's time that it produced more top-level talents.
Through integrating a few new faces into his squad this season, Guardiola, and City fans will hope that a blue might feature on the podium in 2022.
Do you think that City needs to produce more elite young players? Follow our new City Fan Brands Writer Alex Brotherton on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
