Just like every other club in the country and beyond, Manchester City academy players have a big decision to make:
Do they stay and try to break into the first team, or look to leave and play regularly at a formative time in their careers?
City have worked hard over the last few years to make a pathway to the first team more viable - a tricky task when the senior squad is packed full of established, world-class internationals. Phil Foden's ascendancy is the example all youngsters look to follow, with the likes of Cole Palmer, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Tommy Doyle and James McAtee showing there could be a homegrown, local flavour to City's international trophy-winners in the future.
But each player at the City Football Academy, at some point in their youth career, will have to decide whether to prioritise their development or aspiration of becoming the next Foden. For most, their futures will lie away from the Etihad.
So while City have a generally good (and always improving) record of putting a players' development first, it's arguably a risk for them to have promoted so many players to the first team squad without the regular opportunities to play football.
Pep Guardiola has included a handful of youngsters in senior training since June 2020, when Project Restart meant as many players as possible were needed, with locally-based youngsters joining the first-team squad. Since then, City have seen the benefits of letting their best youngsters train with Guardiola, learn his demands, and be ready for whenever their chance comes. Guardiola has explained that for those players to be ready when they're needed, City have to invest the time by familiarising them with the senior set-up.
In fairness, Guardiola has stuck to his word and rewarded a number of academy players with senior debuts in that time. Palmer, Doyle, Harwood-Bellis, James McAtee, Liam Delap, Sam Edozie, Romeo Lavia, Ben Knight, Felix Nmecha, Claudio Gomes, Luke Mbete, Finley Burns, CJ Egan-Riley and Josh Wilson-Esbrand are among those he's played in the last 18-months.
With that comes a negative, though, as their involvement in first-team games sometimes means they are missing out in the chance to play regular, 90-minute games at under-23 level, learning and perfecting the 'City' way. Guardiola apologised to the academy earlier in the season for calling up so many players to a point where the young Blues were knocked out of the UEFA Youth League at the group stage, and Brian Barry-Murphy's side are struggling to retain their Premier League 2 title they won with ease under Enzo Maresca last season.
It's a balancing act that will always tip in favour of the first team, with academy coaches accepting that if Guardiola wants a player in training, he gets them.
For the player, though, as much as they know their place, they will want to see some evidence that the occasional senior appearance is possible and progression at the club is there. A number travelled to Leipzig for the Champions League dead rubber in December, but only Palmer got to play, for three minutes.
In comparison, six young players started the Carabao Cup demolition of Wycombe, and the 'Class of '21' might hope for a similar selection on Friday against Swindon in the FA Cup. The fourth-tier hosts are the perfect opposition for Guardiola to reward them for their efforts in training, and reinforce the message that there is the chance of playing when the circumstances allow.
If not, the players are being told they are good enough to mix with the best players in the world, but not to play with them. When it comes to contract renewals or decisions over loan moves, the lure of playing regularly may start to outweigh the opportunity of training with the first team.
More clubs will start looking to City for transfers if there is a group of players good enough to play for the bset team in the country, but simply not able to.
Even if Guardiola could field a strong team at Swindon to send a message that he's treating the FA Cup seriously, there is merit in rewarding the various young players around his squad. That way, they stay motivated, and the pathway to the first team continues to be a selling point to current or prospective youngsters.
