Begiristain proving that the youth is out there for City

PEP Guardiola’s journey to becoming the best coach in the world took an enormous leap forward when his work with Barcelona B was spotted by Txiki Begiristain.

But it wasn’t just the manager the Barcelona director of football was monitoring.

City’s director of football is an avid watcher of youth games, always looking out for the next talent that could save his club a fortune in the transfer market.

Anyone attending the training ground near the Etihad to watch an academy game has a good chance of spotting the former Barcelona winger tucked away in the stands, eyes usually glued to the pitch.

And Begiristain has also made it his business to look for the best talent coming out of Europe particularly in Spain - and trying to convince them to come to Manchester.

Angelino, Pablo Maffeo, Jose Angel Pozo and Erik Sarmiento are among the prospects to have been brought in from Spanish clubs and departed the Etihad in the last five years, albeit giving the club a few first-team appearances and more than £10m in profit.

Pozo’s younger brother Iker remains in City’s academy and travelled with the first team to the United States this summer.

Brahim Diaz chose the Blues ahead of Barcelona and Real Madrid when he left Malaga in 2015, even if his future remains uncertain. Nabil Touaizi was seen as a coup when the prolific young striker joined from Valencia in January 2017.

Two deals in the last 12 months have taken the strategy on a stage further.

With Guardiola less than satisfied with the standard of the Under-23 league and keen for players who can instantly recognise what he wants, City have signed Eric Garcia and Adrian Bernabe from La Masia, the very academy that brought the club’s manager through.

Barcelona were livid last summer when the Blues were able to tempt Garcia away, as he was seen as the natural heir to Gerard Pique. Bernabe’s switch this year has seen more grumbling at the Nou Camp hierarchy, and to add to the anger both have already made an impression at their new club.

Guardiola was glowing about young defender Garcia, who started all three of City’s tour games and has continued to train with the firstteam. “Eric Garcia is 17 or 18 and played like he is 24 or 25,” the manager said after watching him against Dortmund.

The ease with which Bernabe slotted into the first-team to create a goal against Bayern Munich was eye-opening too. The 17-year-old attacking midfielder only managed a brief run-out off the bench but that was all that was needed to show his potential.

A gentle ball into Bernardo Silva, the awareness to stay in the move and find space to receive the ball again before finding the Portuguese international again and dummying to take a defender away from danger and seconds later the team were 3-2 up.

Three friendlies do not make careers, and the pair have a long, long, long way to go. However, the fact City are able to tempt what appear to be excellent prospects away from the most famous academy in football is the biggest encouragement yet Begiristain’s side-project could prove priceless.