Tosin shows Hoops the way ahead
MANCHESTER CITY fans got a glimpse of the future when Tosin Adarabioyo made his first senior start against Celtic in midweek.
The 6ft 5ins, 19-year-old centre-back is not only a product of the club’s expensive Etihad Campus academy, but also a local lad in the tradition of Joe Corrigan, Mike Doyle and Peter Barnes.
He’s just the sort of player the Hoops hope to produce themselves at their Lennoxtown academy to avoid dipping into the transfer market, and that’s the road their English rivals are pursuing.
City have gone global in their talent search since the Abu Dhabi money started flowing, hiring the most-expensive senior talent and filling the junior ranks with youngsters of many nationalities.
But the kid from Whalley Range is the first Manchester-born player to break into Pep Guardiola’s first-team squad and he’s certain he won’t be the last.
“It’s important to the club to get local lads into the senior side,” says Adarabioyo.
“It’s what every club wants, but you have to be good enough to play.
“We have a lot of local youthteam players who have the potential to come through into the first team. I can see a time when perhaps half the first team are from the academy.
“I’m training with the first team now and was given a Champions League chance, so the other lads will look at that.
“Pretty much every single player in the academy system is very talented. They work very hard and I’m sure they’ll get their opportunity.”
Adarabioyo has been attached to City since he was five and skippered the age-group sides before being fast-tracked into the firstteam squad when Guardiola assessed him in pre-season.
“City’s academy prepares every single player for the step up to the first team,” he says. “We’re taught to play a certain way so you can just try to do the same things if you reach the first team.”