Manchester City youngsters out to reverse the trend of Guardiola's loan players

Teenage pals McAtee and Delap are with Championship clubs and want to become the first to return to City's first team

Sheffield United's James McAtee, on loan from Manchester City, battles with West Bromwich Albion's Alex Mowatt in a Carabao Cup First-Round match at The Hawthorns on August 11, 2022. PA

Sheffield United's James McAtee challenges Okay Yokuslu of West Brom in a Carabao Cup First-Round match on August 11, 2022. Getty

Sheffield United's James McAtee and West Bromwich Albion's Alex Mowatt battle for the ball. PA

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola gives instructions to James McAtee as he comes on in the Uefa Champions League Round of 16 second-leg match against Sporting Lisbon at the Etihad Stadium in March 2022. AFP

Manchester City's James McAtee battles with Sporting Lisbon's Luis Neto in the Uefa Champions League Round of 16 second leg at the Etihad. PA

Manchester City's James McAtee in action against Sporting Lisbon. AP

Manchester City's James McAtee during a training session at the City Football Academy in April, 2022. PA

Manchester City's James McAtee scores his third goal to complete a hat-trick in the Uefa Youth League Group A match against Club Brugge at the Academy Stadium in Manchester in November 2021.

Rotherham United's Curtis Durose and Manchester City's James McAtee battle for the ball during the Papa John's Trophy Northern Group E match in October 2021. PA

Liam Delap of Stoke City breaks away from Jay Matete of Sunderland in the Sky Bet Championship game at Bet365 Stadium on August 20, 2022. Getty

Stoke City's Liam Delap and Sunderland's Dennis Cirkin compete for the ball. PA

Liam Delap of England passes in the Uefa European Under-19 Championship Qualifying match against the Republic of Ireland on March 25, 2022. Getty

Manchester City's Raheem Sterling celebrates with Liam Delap after scoring his side's fourth goal in the Premier League match against Norwich City on February 12, 2022. AP

Tim Ream of Fulham tackles Liam Delap of Manchester City in an Emirates FA Cup Fourth-Round match at the Etihad Stadium in February, 2022. Getty

Manchester City's Liam Delap vies with Bournemouth's Jack Simpson in a League Cup Third-Round match. AFP

Manchester City youngsters James McAtee and Liam Delap know they will have to buck a trend if they are to succeed at the Etihad where others have failed.

The pair of 19-year-old friends, considered the most likely to succeed among the current crop of the champions' Academy graduates, have both been loaned out this summer to clubs in the Championship – arguably the most competitive league in European football.

Midfielder McAtee has already begun to impress at Sheffield United and, less than 50 miles away, striker Delap has played his first minutes at Stoke City.

Their short-term aim is to play regularly at a high standard, to continue their football education in a pressurised environment and then, long-term, to return to City and play in the Premier and Champions League – both have already had a brief taste of life at football’s top table.

However, if they are to become permanent members of Pep Guardiola’s squad – they have both made appearances in the Premier League and Uefa Champions League – McAtee and Delap are going to have to overcome something of a hoodoo.

During the great Catalan manager’s six-year reign at the Etihad Stadium not one youngster has been loaned out and returned to regular first-team football.

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The two youth products who are currently in his squad – Phil Foden and Cole Palmer – made all their progress on the perfectly manicured training pitches at the City Football Academy.

Other recent hopefuls like Gavin Bazunu (now at Southampton), Patrick Roberts (Sunderland), Lukas Nmecha (Wolfsburg), Arno Muric (Burnley) and D’Margio Wright-Phillips (Stoke) left on one or more loan deals and never came back to play regularly for the first team before securing permanent moves at a high level elsewhere.

Others in a similar position to McAtee and Delap, though more probably facing a make-or-break season in terms of their permanent futures with the champions, are defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who is in his fourth loan spell, this time at Burnley, and Tommy Doyle, who is with McAtee at Sheffield United – his third temporary home after making his City first-team debut in 2019.

McAtee and Delap, meanwhile, are still held in very high regard by Guardiola and his inner circle and their departure is as much to do with the manager’s fondness for operating with a small squad than any lingering doubts about their ability to make the grade.

Both had the choice from several loan suitors this summer as City batted away significant cash bids for their promising duo. Tellingly neither has a "with a view to buy" clause in their Championship deals.

They can also take comfort from the fact that, while loaned-out players have subsequently struggled to make the grade at City, there are many examples of big names who left their parent club for a while and come back to become not just local legends but internationally renowned superstars.

For example, current Everton manager and former Chelsea midfielder (and City player) Frank Lampard scored his first ever senior goal while on loan at Swansea in the 1995/96 season.

Famously Harry Kane, the striker preparing to lead England into the Qatar World Cup later this year, had four fairly nondescript loan periods at Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester before finding his feet and goalscoring boots at Tottenham Hotspur.

And there are many more success stories to be found should any of the current youngsters on loan need reassurance.

Ashley Cole played for Crystal Palace in the Championship before making his mark at Arsenal as perhaps the Premier League’s best-ever left-back and David Beckham, one of the most famous players of the modern era, wasn’t always at Manchester United or Real Madrid. In his early days he was loaned out to Third Division Preston North End, who had current West Ham manager David Moyes in their ranks.

Beckham’s teammate at Old Trafford Rio Ferdinand similarly had a loan spell at Bournemouth and fellow top Premier League centre-half John Terry was once loaned out to Nottingham Forest.

Sometimes in football the road to the top isn’t always straight.