Normally, when a footballer scores his first goal for the club, the least he can expect is a place on the bench for the next game, especially if it is a late decider.
Yet, this is an abnormal situation. Kelechi Iheanacho was Manchester City’s match-winner at Crystal Palace. He will sit in the stands tomorrow.
He is ineligible to face Juventus. He was omitted from City’s Uefa Champions League squad. It highlights a broader trend.
In the last week of the transfer window, it was suggested Marcos Lopes would leave. Manuel Pellegrini offered reassurance.
“I am sure in the future he will be part of our club,” he said. “It is better for him to go on loan.”
Half an hour later, confirmation arrived that City had sold Lopes to Monaco.
Then Jason Denayer was sent to Galatasaray on loan. Lopes, Denayer and Iheanacho were supposed to be at the vanguard of a youthful revolution.
They were the trio from the next generation who had been selected to play their part this season.
Now, despite a glimpse of Iheanacho’s talent, his opportunities have been limited. Lopes was rendered surplus to requirements by City’s decision to spend £103 million (Dh583.6m) on two other wingers, Raheem Sterling and Kevin de Bruyne.
Denayer was demoted in the pecking order when City surprisingly paid £31.5m for Valencia’s Nicolas Otamendi.
The centre-back cited City’s deluxe training facilities, which he had experienced with Argentina, as a reason to join. Yet the £200m City Football Academy was designed with the stated intent of producing players who would graduate to the first team.
It may still. There are perhaps 14 footballers age 21 or under who have the potential to make a breakthrough. But there has to be the concern that, no matter how they progress, an expensive roadblock to a spot in the side will appear, in the manner of Otamendi or De Bruyne.
The arrival of the 27-year-old Otamendi means City can name a starting 11 born between 1985 and 1988. Pellegrini’s teams tend to have a high average age.
Two of the young hopes have gone for good. Lopes, who brought in £8.8m, at least proved profitable. Jose Angel Pozo was supposed to be City’s “mini-Messi”, a slight, gifted No 10.
He scored on his first-team debut but was granted only three more games, with Pellegrini brusquely claiming he was “not a striker”. He was sold to Almeria last week, his exit barely noticed by most.
The fact that Pozo, who was recruited from Real Madrid, joined a second-division club is instructive. Identifying and developing talent is a perilous process.
Some are over-hyped – Pozo himself called the Messi comparisons “crazy” – and some do not realise their potential.
City have, however, invested considerable time and money in assembling a seemingly promising group, consisting both of Mancunians and imports, in an attempt to bring an organic element to their team.
As Pozo left, the £2.1m Villarreal winger Aleix Garcia arrived. Like forwards Enes Unal and Patrick Roberts, he is a sign that City have spent the summer raiding other clubs for their teenage talents.
Unal, like Denayer, has been loaned out. Lopes has been sold for a healthy sum.
It prompts thoughts that City could be emulating Chelsea, a football factory where money is made but players rarely produced for the first team.
The Premier League champions own so many players that 33 have been borrowed by other clubs; Gordon Taylor, the Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive, has said Chelsea are “warehousing” footballers.
In contrast, Lopes received an elite education at City, excelled on loan at Lille last season and proved a fine piece of business by the club.
Perhaps it is a tale of fiscal acumen, albeit an unromantic one. Yet, the summer departure of Micah Richards robbed City of their last home-grown player who progressed to become a first-team regular.
When their Under 18 side, featuring a contingent of Mancunians, reached last season’s FA Youth Cup final, it seemed there may belatedly be some successors to Richards.
The fates of Lopes and co, and the way City seem to want to buy the finished article, cast that into doubt.
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SIX YOUNGSTERS
Kelechi Iheanacho
At age 18, he is City’s fourth-choice forward this season after the departures of Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic. He made his first-team debut as a late substitute against Watford and scored the goal that defeated Crystal Palace, but he is ineligible in Europe. He scored six goals and won the Golden Ball at the Under 17 World Cup in the UAE in 2013, prompting City to sign him.
Angus Gunn
The son of Norwich City and Scotland goalkeeper Bryan Gunn, he has joined the family profession. He was taken on City’s preseason tour to Australia and Vietnam and made his debut for England’s Under 21s the next week. He is 19. Perhaps, in a year or two, he could take over from Willy Caballero as Joe Hart’s deputy.
Patrick Roberts
Bought from Fulham for £5 million (Dh28.3m), a fee that could rise to £11m, Roberts is the most expensive addition to Patrick Vieira’s Elite Development Squad. More of a second striker than a centre-forward, he scored three times for England in the European Under-19 Championship but never found the net for Fulham.
Pablo Maffeo
Like Iheanacho and Roberts, Maffeo was on the bench against Watford. The 18-year-old Spaniard, who joined from Barcelona, made a favourable impression in preseason. With senior right-backs Pablo Zabaleta and Bacary Sagna in their 30s, could that afford an opening?
Cameron Humphreys
One of three gifted young centre-backs on City’s books, with Jason Denayer and Tosin Adarabioyo. Humphreys, 16, is the most precocious. He faced Real Madrid in Melbourne in July and, while City lost 4-1, emerged from their preseason tour with his reputation enhanced.
Angelino
Jose Angel Tasende is known by his nickname, Angelino. Many City fans hope the 18-year-old Spaniard develops into the successor to Gael Clichy and Aleksandar Kolarov. He is getting first-team experience on loan at New York City FC but is not yet ready for the Premier League.
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