Manchester City's academy head Jason Wilcox used to get annoyed at his staff being poached for new jobs, before the realisation that it was exactly what was supposed to happen if they were doing well in their roles.
If the staff were tasked with producing some of the best young footballers in the game, a job they were having increasing success at, why wouldn't the same clubs admiring the prospects be interested in those that had helped it happen? City's ambition to have a world-revered academy extended to the non-playing staff, and more and more have landed plum jobs after the recognition of their work at the City Football Academy.
That now includes Wilcox, who will take up a role as the director of football at Southampton in the summer to leave City needing a new leader to carry the academy forward. It had been known for some time that Wilcox had his eyes on such a role - Newcastle expressed an interest before appointing Dan Ashworth - but the departure is still a significant blow given how Wilcox has driven City's academy to new heights.
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He follows the same path as former head of academy scouting Joe Shields, although Shields has already moved on to become part of Chelsea's recruitment team after convincing Saints to pay £45m for four City youngsters and he will be joined at Stamford Bridge by City's head of UK academy scouting Stewart Thompson. Sam Fagbemi has replaced Shields as head of academy recruitment, although has reportedly been interesting Newcastle.
City have already moved to bring in Sean Murphy and Bradley Wall from Wolves to help replace Thompson and their national youth scout manager Paul McLaren, who has gone to Newcastle. However, the big job at the top remains vacant (albeit with Wilcox seeing out his notice) and is the most crucial to get right given the importance of the role for Begiristain.
City have in the past had success with taking their time over academy appointments; they felt it was worth their while to wait for Under-23 coaches Enzo Maresca and Brian Barry-Murphy, and both of those decisions paid off. Another external appointment has been mooted to replace Wilcox, although whoever gets the job would arrive under pressure to settle in quickly and strike a good working relationship with the club's sporting director and the other links to the first team.
The system is set up so that it can keep on flourishing even as staff are replaced, but just as at first team level where having the structure to cope without Pep Guardiola as manager doesn't guarantee success could be replicated without him saying and doing are different things.
Having matched first-team success at academy level and developed players for City and other clubs to an unprecedented standard, City bosses have a tough challenge on their hands to keep the progress going with new faces in key positions.
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