First team is the goal for starlets
Adarabioyo’s barely featured for City MANCHESTER CITY will almost certainly seal their place in the FA Youth Cup Final tomorrow – but there’s precious little reason to hang out the bunting at the Etihad.
City lead Stoke 6-0 from the first leg and look set to meet Chelsea after the west Londoners smashed Spurs 9-2 on aggregate last month.
It will be the third time in three seasons that the two clubs have contested the final.
But breaking into the first-team reckoning for players of both sides is proving almost impossible.
No player from either club has started a Premier League match since the 2015 final.
Brief substitute cameos from the likes of Chelsea’s Jake Clarke-Salter and Ola Aina are as good as it has got for the Stamford Bridge youngsters.
The only player to make a significant breakthrough has been Tammy Abraham, a regular scorer for Bristol City in the Championship this season.
Before yesterday’s matches he had netted 19 times for the Robins.
With his route to the first team blocked by the likes of Diego Costa and Pedro he is unlikely to find the going any easier on his return to Stamford Bridge in the summer.
It’s a similar picture at City where the chances of progression from the youth team to the first team has been virtually zero since Sheikh Mansour’s billions began transforming the club.
Two Champions League appearances and a run-out in the League Cup for Tosin Adarabioyo this season is as good as it has got for City, who lost in the Youth Cup final to Chelsea in the past two seasons.
A Premier League breakthrough for starlets of both clubs looks as elusive as ever.