Manchester City are set to complete the signing of Japanese wonder kid, Hideki Ishige, from Shimizu S-Pulse.

The Asian youth player of the year has shone in recent weeks and has been a key factor behind the success of his club's march to the Nabisco Cup final on Saturday, on top of their late surge up the Japanese league.

Shimizu manager Afshin Ghotbi would love to keep the 18- year-old at his club, but would not stop the teenager in gaining experience at a club like City.

“If you want to build top-class players, you have to give them various experiences and opportunities to see first-hand what the world level is about," Ghotbi told Japans Kyodo news.

“And what better experience for Ishige than to train with the first team of Manchester City, the champions of England, and have manager Roberto Mancini see him first hand and train with some of the top players in the world.”

“There is interest in him, not just Man City but many clubs in Europe and he deserves it. He's a real fantastic talent.

“As far as I'm concerned, he's not for sale and we want him to be a part of S-Pulse for the next few years to come. There has been no offer, City just want to see him and we are doing the same with other players with other clubs.

“The greatest asset of Japan is its youths. I'm very, very positive about the youth players in Japan and their qualities. Ishige is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.”