Farid Alfa-Ruprecht will leave Manchester City with no senior appearances to his name after Bayer Leverkusen agreed to sign him
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 18: Farid Alfa-Ruprecht of Manchester City celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the UEFA Youth League 2024/25 match between Manchester City and FC Internazionale at Joie Stadium on September 18, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 18: Farid Alfa-Ruprecht of Manchester City celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the UEFA Youth League 2024/25 match between Manchester City and FC Internazionale at Joie Stadium on September 18, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Fair Alfa-Ruprecht
Manchester City have agreed a deal of up to £5m with Bayer Leverkusen for teenage winger Farid Alfa-Ruprecht. And a 50 per cent sell-on clause could make them considerably more money as Leverkusen look to draw the potential out of another young star.
The deal marks a promising return to Germany for Alfa-Ruprecht, following his move from Hamburg's academy to City in 2022. The youngster, who has likened his play to Jeremy Doku, quickly made an impression in the Under-18s and last season earned a place on the bench when Pep Guardiola took his players to Tottenham for the League Cup.
"He now has a real clear understanding of what we want from a winger, what his job is, what the roles and responsibilities are with and without the ball," Under-21 coach Ben Wilkinson said at the time. "He has real clarity on that now.
"He's delivering in moments, the challenge is to be really consistent for the next two years in U21s football. If he can be, I'm sure with the assets he's got he's got a real chance of having a good career.
"Because he's exceptionally quick - that's what people pay big money for in world football. If you can add consistency in your end product it gives you a real chance.
"He's getting somewhere - against Everton he was real good in that moment, then the next game it's about repeating it and trying to get that level of consistency."
Spurs would be the only game that Alfa-Ruprecht was part of a matchday squad for Guardiola and he missed the final few months of the season for the academy with injury. His absence was felt as City went out of the UEFA Youth League at the quarter-final stage.
However, Leverkusen saw enough potential to strike a permanent deal with City. The German club have just made enormous profits from the sales of Florian Wirtz and former City youngster Jeremie Frimpong to Liverpool after the pair developed in the Bundesliga.
City will hope Alfa-Ruprecht can grow at a similar rate as they continue to follow his career with interest.
They will also expect to land a number of similar deals this summer as the academy continues to make significant profits for the club. The Under-21s topped their league before winning the play-off system, while the Under-18s enjoyed a 26-game winning run in all competitions before falling short in two national finals.
Here at the Manchester Evening News, we’re dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester City coverage and analysis.
Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clickinghere to subscribe.
You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Clickhere to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.
And finally, if you’d rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Talking City podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, includingSpotify andApple Podcasts, and you can also watch along onYouTube.