The ideal blueprint for Man City to be following?
City CEO Garry Cook thinks youth is the way forward for the club
Manchester City have spent a lot of money since Sheikh Mansour bought the club in the summer of 2008. Their attempts to buy their way into the Top Four in the Premiership looked a possibility earlier this season as they started the league campaign well but has petered out a bit with recent poor form although they will feel there is still a Champions League spot for the taking. The general consensus is that City will be able to spend their way to the Premiership title within the next few years just as Chelsea did when Roman Abrahamovic first took over at Stamford Bridge. Constant speculation over new marquee signings now hangs over the City of Manchester Stadium and no target is too big for City as we saw with their pursuits of Gianluigi Buffon and Kaka, to name a couple.
However, City’s chief executive Garry Cook feels that the way forward for his club is not to constantly buy top class players and hope that they will gel together but instead to copy a method already used at Arsenal: signing lots of talented young players who can develop at the club into world beaters. City have already taken measures to achieve this with their scouting network having been increased largely since Mansour’s takeover and they can definitely afford to pick up the world’s top talent with the ability to match bids from any other club for youngsters all around the world.
The method has worked out for Arsenal for a number of years now – Arsene Wenger’s tendency to buy young, often unheard of, players and then develop them into a strong team has been watched by most Premiership viewers and they are always up there amongst the title contenders. Wenger’s signings vary from teenagers with a lot of potential to players in their early 20’s who have lost their way or are yet to reach their full potential. Most of these signings have turned out to be a success and Arsenal can particularly look at the likes of Gael Clichy, Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song as members of their current squad who are good results of Wenger’s transfer methods. Then there are those who’ve moved on to other top clubs like Mathieu Flamini who made their name at Arsenal after developing there as a youngster. It’s certainly a method that saves a lot of money and prevents bidding wars for big name players – something that Arsenal rarely embark in.
City would be taking a big risk if they were to try to emulate this system though; first of all they don’t necessarily have the man management staff to bring players through as successfully as Arsenal do and Mark Hughes, and his eventual replacement, are not likely to be as good at developing youngsters as Arsene Wenger has become. Then there’s City’s recent history with the young stars that do come through their ranks – Ched Evans and Daniel Sturridge were both said to be top talents but moved on due to lack of first team possibilities at Eastlands whilst Michael Johnson’s still seen as a good prospect but the chances of him becoming a regular at City are highly unlikely given their senior midfielders. The fact is that City will continue to spend regardless of whether they’re looking at youth or not because they have the finances to do so and more experienced, proven players will keep coming in as City look to bridge the gap to the top. Developing youth takes time and City are extremely expectant right now and want success as soon as they can get it. Mansour is not going to want to sit around for a number of trophyless years waiting for the kids to all reach their full potential.
There’s no doubting that Arsenal’s method is admirable – whilst poaching youngsters from other clubs is frowned upon, signing a lot of talented youngsters on the cheap and then using your facilities and management skills to help them hone their talent is a cheap way to succeed and it impresses the football world who are quick to hail the mentor of many youngsters but it is a system that is full of risks – will the young player succeed? He could be another Abou Diaby who makes the first team but isn’t really good enough. And will they ever break into the first team? Arsenal’s youngsters do as the club don’t tend to sign bigger name players due to either a lack of funds or simply because Wenger prefers it. Though Cook may like the idea of this model for City there’s no guarantee that the manager at the club will and he will get Mansour’s backing to sign more known players should he request it. A lot of work has to go into the development of youth and I can’t see City harnessing it to produce a crop of players any time soon when they can simply go on bidding high prices for anyone they want without a care in the world.
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And Abou Diaby isn’t good enough is he? huh……bollocks!