Youth football is in Pep Guardiola's blood. He emerged from Barcelona's famed La Masia academy and then took his first steps as a coach after being appointed manager of the Catalans' B team all the way back in 2007. When he became first-team coach at Camp Nou one year later, he promoted the likes of Sergio Busquets and Pedro, plus the returning Gerard Pique, as Barca swept to the treble in style.
Guardiola has seen just as many talented players come through the academy in his nearly 10 years at Manchester City, but there is a key difference between the two clubs, as the bulk of the youngster to have come through at City have failed to establish themselves as regulars in his first team. While Nico O'Reilly, Rico Lewis and academy poster boy Phil Foden have gone on to do great things for their boyhood clubs, they are in a tiny minority.
When Guardiola's side face Aston Villa on Sunday, they will come up against one of the biggest success stories of all the players to have left the club: Morgan Rogers, who left City in 2023 for Middlesbrough but has since gone on to become one of the most important players for Villa and a genuine rival to Jude Bellingham in the England squad.
Rogers is far from alone in going on to prove his former employers wrong since walking out of the doors of the City Football Academy (CFA). As Guardiola said last month, "Imagine the amount of players who unfortunately left. They were top, top-class players and could not have the space [in the team]. My God, the starting XI you could have right now in the first team if you start to count the incredible players in other clubs that was educated and played here in Man City and in the academy."
GOAL takes a look at the best players who came through City's youth ranks but never made the cut, assessing whether the club was right or wrong to let them leave…
AFPMorgan Rogers
Ever wondered why Rogers and Palmer both do the 'ice cold' celebration after scoring? The pair were thick as thieves as City academy team-mates between 2019 and 2021, and each scored in the 2020 FA Youth Cup final against Chelsea. But there is no question that Palmer shone brightest at that level. Rogers, playing on the opposite wing, played half the number of games and was far less productive, contributing to just 12 goals.
And while Palmer was fast-tracked into the first team, Rogers was sent out on loan to Lincoln City and Blackpool, both in League One, and Bournemouth in the Championship before joining Middlesbrough in the summer of 2023. It moulded him into the brilliant player who won the PFA Young Player of the Year award for his first full season at Villa.
But while City would have loved to have had the current version of Rogers, the truth is no one questioned him leaving at the time. Not even Rogers, who admitted last month: "I wasn’t good enough, simple as that. I wasn’t ready, I wasn't ready to be there, I wasn't myself, I wasn't the person that they signed in terms of what they expected me to go on and be. Yeah, it wasn't the right player at the right time for me or the club."
Verdict: Hit
AdvertisementGettyCole Palmer
Palmer, above any other City academy player in the 21st century, is the one that got away. And while other players exploded after leaving City, Palmer was doing it while on their books and they knew exactly how good he was.
He scored 42 goals and set up a further 19 in 61 games for the Under-18s and Under-21s while he took his chances in the first team, contributing to a goal every 185 minutes despite most of his appearances coming off the bench. City could see exactly how good Palmer was becoming just before they let him leave for Chelsea as he scored in two of his final three games for the club, in the Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup.
Still, not many City fans were complaining about the £42m fee they received when Palmer left and his rise at Chelsea took many by surprise, as he scored 22 Premier League goals and set up 11 in his first campaign.
Palmer could have been Kevin De Bruyne's heir at the Etihad Stadium and filled the gap of a having a highly productive winger to replace Riyad Mahrez. And imagine the pride among supporters seeing Palmer emulate Foden as the local academy boy who developed into a first-team star.
Verdict: Miss
Getty Images SportJeremie Frimpong
Jeremie Frimpong moved from Amsterdam to Manchester aged seven with his mother and his six siblings, and two years later he enrolled in City's academy. He remained there for nine years, but he felt held back as he would play in one age group below his own.
When he wanted to discuss a new contract in 2019, Frimpong was bluntly told he was too small and not physical enough for the senior team, while he was also compared to players in his age group who had made more progress. Frimpong instead left for Celtic, where he played regularly and developed into the high-flying right-back he is today.
When he was playing a pivotal role in Bayer Leverkusen's romp to the Bundesliga title in 2024, many City fans began to wonder if they had made a mistake overlooking him. Those feelings became more pronounced last term when the team had no consistent right-back due to Kyle Walker's nose-diving performances while Frimpong joined title rivals Liverpool for £29.5m in the summer.
Verdict: Miss
Getty Images SportMichael Olise
Michael Olise is a man of few words, but he has let his performances do the talking of late to devastating effect. He has gone from being rejected by some of the biggest clubs around in Arsenal, Chelsea and City to becoming one of the leading lights for Bayern Munich and a regular supplier of goals for Harry Kane.
Olise arrived at City aged 15 after being rejected by Chelsea, but he did not make the grade and spent just one season at the CFA, dropping down a level with his next move by joining Reading. There he excelled and within two years he was in the Royals' senior team, soon tearing it up in the Championship.
Crystal Palace subsequently snapped him up for £8m, a bargain considering that three years later they would sell him to Bayern for £52m. Olise notched 17 goals and 17 assists while winning the Bundesliga title in his first season at the Allianz Arena, and this term he has picked up where he left off, prompting City and the other big clubs who sent him packing to ponder exactly how they failed to spot his talent.
Verdict: Miss
