Fans wave Manchester City flags in the stands ahead of the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Queens Park Rangers at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, northwest England, on May 10, 2015placeholder image
Fans wave Manchester City flags in the stands ahead of the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Queens Park Rangers at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, northwest England, on May 10, 2015 | AFP via Getty Images
Man City’s academy is one of the best in the world but there has been a fall from grace by one former graduate.
Manchester City’s academy is responsible for over £500m worth of transfer fees since Pep Guardiola arrived in England, a figure that is put into perspective by Arsenal’s senior team not even making £200m.
Whilst players like Phil Foden and Cole Palmer attract the headlines there are dozens of others who go on to card successful careers for themselves outwith the attention that playing for City brings. Football is a cutthroat sport though and one former Citizen who has fallen on hard times has found himself playing five-a-sides with YouTubers on Sky Sports when he should be at his peak and competing for trophies.
The Man City academy star who was tipped for the top
Not only was Brandon Barker an England international, at one point, (2023) Trent Alexander-Arnold claimed that the ex-City academy starlet was his toughest opponent. A point that was put to Barker by The Athletic earlier this year: “I’m sure he’s had more difficult games, given some of the superstars he played against, but it’s nice of him to say it,” he says. “I’d never played against him before. He looked very young and he was very small and skinny, whereas I was already established at that level. But I was pretty good that day, to be fair.”
“But it was after I got my speed, when I was around 15 or 16, that I started to feel I had a real chance,” he says. “When you’re playing with older age groups and you’re handling it, you start to think you’ve got a real chance.” Which led to Barker getting his chance with the first-team: “Training with players like David Silva, Yaya Toure, an amazing experience,” he says. “They’re two of the best players I’ve ever seen — especially David, like, wow, unbelievable. But technically I always felt I could handle it. I’d played for England in all the age group teams. I felt I could handle anything. They had a plan in place for me,” he said. “It obviously wasn’t executed in a way everyone hoped, but they definitely had a plan for me.”
Barker takes part in Baller League draft
That plan involved various loan spells where Barker just wasn’t capable of making the step from being a promising youngster to an established senior professional. The highlight reel is impressive, but that’s all it is. When a five-year contract expired in 2020, Steven Gerrard took a gamble and persuaded Barker to return north to the SPFL after looking like he could cause teams problems during one temporary spell at Hibernian. Unfortunately though, despite several Rangers players claiming Barker was unplayable in training, matchdays were a different matter altogether.
Now, in the second series of the Baller League, a mixture of retired players, YouTubers and football content creators, Barker put himself forward for the draft looking to put himself back in the shop window and rediscover his love for the game. Sadly, as the last of 48 professional players to be picked, the 28-year old’s confidence is unlikely to have been given any sort of boost. If ever a player epitomised how important the top two inches of a player’s make-up is, it is the example of Barker and the gap between what he is capable of and what he has shown since making a spectacular breakthrough as a teenager in Man City’s star-studded first-team.
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