Since the Abu Dhabi takeover almost two decades ago now, Manchester City's academy has become one of England's ultimate talent factories.
This has obvious massive benefits, Phil Foden very much the poster boy for their home-grown talents, but this does mean Man City often regret losing superstar youngsters who are not given a chance and then go on to flourish elsewhere.
Phil-Foden-1
Cole Palmer is the most prominent example of this while, at Chelsea alone, Tosin Adarabioyo, Roméo Lavia and Liam Delap were all let go by the Sky Blues when they were younger.
However, there is one star in particular, allowed to leave as a 21 year old for just £1m, now shinning in the Premier League, who would certainly improve Pep Guardiola's first team.
Tijjani Reijnders' start to life at Manchester City
Tijjani Reijnders joined Manchester City from AC Milan in June for a reported fee of £46.5m, thrust straight into action, starting three of the Sky Blues' four matches at the Club World Cup.
Once the proper football returned, he stood out on the opening day of the Premier League season too, scoring as the Citizens demolished Wolves 4-0 at Molineux.
Overall, the Dutch international has started all eight of Man City's Premier League and Champions League fixtures to date, with the table below underlining his importance.
Reijnders at Man City
Statistics
Minutes
Goals
Assists
Shots
Shots on target
Completed passes
Progressive passes
Shot-creating actions
Touches
Ball recoveries
Stats via FBref
As the table outlines, Reijnders has played more minutes than any other Manchester City player this season, ranked in the top two for a wide variety of metrics, behind only Erling Braut Håland in terms of shots, while only Rodri ranks higher for passes, touches and ball recoveries.
Tijjani Reijnders
However, a Manchester City academy graduate, who did not make a single appearance for the first team, is currently starring for a Premier League rival, actually worth even more than Reijnders.
Manchester City's forgotten academy graduate
Morgan Rogers joined Manchester City from West Bromwich Albion in 2019, winning the FA Youth Cup with the Sky Blues, scoring in the final against Chelsea, featuring 25 times for the club's under-21s, most notably featuring in five EFL Trophy fixtures.
However, nowhere near a first-team breakthrough, he was loaned out to Lincoln City and then Bournemouth, before being sold to Middlesbrough for around £1m.
Aston Villa star Morgan Rogers
Well, after just 33 appearances for Boro, he had impressed to such an extent that Aston Villa signed him in January 2024, costing a reported fee of £8m, potentially rising to £15m, with Man City benefiting from a 25% sell-on clause, which appears to be an absolute bargain.
Last season, Rogers scored 14 goals and registered 16 assists across all competitions for the Villans, with former England manager Glenn Hoddle describing him as "like a [Wayne] Rooney" for his strength, while Phil McNulty of BBC Sport praised his 'star quality and vast potential'.
This form saw him awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year, only the fifth Aston Villa player to claim the accolade, after Andy Gray (1977), Gary Shaw (1981), Ashley Young (2009) and James Milner (2010).
Thus, in the summer, the Telegraph reported that Villa valued the England international at around £80m, while Football Transfers estimated his current value to be £58.3m, around £3m higher than Reijnders, who was sold by AC Milan for just £46.5m.
In summary, while Man City may earn up to £3.75m through Rogers' sell-on clause, they could've yielded so much more had they given him a chance and, if that had been the case, who knows, he could have been starring for this inconsistent Guardiola side right now.