The Manchester club have opened the new academy complex
as part of their vision for building for the future, and believe
the development is unique
Manchester City have opened their City Football Academy
complex in a bid to improve the number of homegrown players
coming through the club.
Since the Premier League champions were bought by Sheikh
Mansour in 2008, City have often preferred to look abroad
when it comes to player recruitment.
While signings from overseas have helped the club add to
their trophy cabinet, a lack of English players has proven
problematic when it comes to meeting Premier League quotas
on homegrown players.
The likes of Jack Rodwell and Adam Johnson have already
moved on after struggling to impress at the Etihad Stadium,
while Scott Sinclair and Dedryck Boyata seem unlikely to
feature under Manuel Pellegrini.
However, the club opened the academy, which has been four
years in the making, with the complex tipped to serve as a
breeding ground for the club's age-group sides as well as
community initiatives.
The 7,000 capacity Academy Stadium will be used by the Elite
Development Squad, Manchester City Women and the local
community.
"We wanted to build something that was unique in the world
of football," explained academy director Brian Marwood.
"The vision was always about building for the future," added
Khaldoon Al Mubarak, with the City chairman also touching on
the importance of the academy in terms of the English
champions' place in global football.
City already have existing partnerships with New York City -
the soon-to-be MLS side - and Australian outfit Melbourne
City, and Elite Development Squad coach Patrick Vieira stated
he is excited about the project.
He said: "What I find really exciting about the project is before
designing the facilities, they've been to the football world, the
basketball world, the NFL world. There is a lot of hard work
behind the project."
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