Diaz transfer proves success of academy
INVESTMENT IN YOUTH
THE Real Madrid debut of Brahim Diaz, at the Bernabeu, has been portrayed as a major kick in the teeth for the much-vaunted City academy.
It isn’t. It is very much a success story, a vindication of the huge investment the Blues have made in youth football, whatever the sneerers may say.
Brahim’s departure, 18 months after another supreme talent – new England star Jadon Sancho – also left, is being seen as a leakage that could turn into a dam burst, with 18-year-old Phil Foden being watched for any signs of frustration.
But the clues to Brahim’s decision are all there.
His primary reason for going was not because he was upset at lack of first-team football.
If that was the case, going to a club that has already has Gareth Bale, Isco, Marco Asensio, Lucas Vazquez and Vinicius Junior would not have been the wisest of choices.
Sancho’s decision to go to Borussia Dortmund was clearly motivated by a desire to play more – he saw firstteam opportunity with the Bundesliga outfit, and good luck to him for taking such an unorthodox step.
But for Brahim, the lure was stronger than that.
“Making my debut at the Bernabeu is great. This is a dream since I was a child,” he said after going on as a substitute in the 3-0 Copa del Rey win over Leganes.
City have made it plain they did not want to lose Brahim, but to lose him in a deal that could one day be worth £22million – when he could have gone for a training compensation fee in six months – represents a positive outcome.
The player achieves a dream, Real Madrid land a player of huge potential, and City – while they would not have chosen it – are handsomely rewarded.
If Brahim goes on to become a major star, the deal will look less attractive but given what would have happened in summer, it is the best they could have got.
To somehow suggest that City’s academy is failing because they have lost Sancho and Brahim, and because 18-year-old Phil Foden was on the bench for a League Cup semifinal, is disingenuous.
The academy is doing what it was set up to do – attract the best young talent, nurture and finesse them, and then produce players for a first team, whether that be at City or elsewhere.
With a squad as talented as that at Pep Guardiola’s disposal, very, very few players are going to make the grade.
Sancho and Brahim could both see their route to the first team blocked off by young, world-class players in Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane.
Both sought a solution that suited their own aims, both brought in money – £8million for Sancho – and both could go on to have stellar careers.
It shows the other side of City’s academy – it produces or nurtures players who go on to have careers, whether it be Devante Cole at Wigan or Denis Suarez at Barcelona.
To suggest there is something cynical about that, an academy that gives players excellent coaching and facilities and sets them up for a career in the game, is strange.
In a few years, the England team could be centred around City academy graduates like Sancho, Foden, Angus Gunn and Kieran Trippier.
Who loses? City are garnering good money for players who are maybe not quite good enough for their first team, the players gain a football education, and other clubs – and national teams – gain good players.
City picked up £25million for Kelechi Iheanacho, £9million for Rony Lopes and £12million each for Gunn and Enes Unal, in a welter of youngsters who have brought in around £148million for the club. In an age of financial fair play, that sum is not to be sniffed at. Leaving Foden out of the starting line-up against Burton was not a snub. Guardiola has more concerns than just Foden, and he wanted to give Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva vital minutes five days before an important Premier League clash with Wolves. If Foden had been 20 or 21, and still not commanding a place in a game like that, then alarm bells might ring. But the lad does not turn 19 until the end of May, and a balance has to be struck between giving him time on the pitch and not over-exposing him. He can see a clear succession to the first team, with David Silva on the downslope of his career, in terms of age, even if his performance levels are as strong as ever. There will always be players who see the grass as being greener elsewhere but as long as some make it, and the best of the rest command hefty transfer fees, the academy is vindicated. Stuart Brennan