City's Elite Development Squad and Under-18s have seen another season come and go with fresh faces developing in the most competitive of circumstances and were rewarded with silverware to complete an intense campaign.
League success for Ben Wilkinson’s EDS and Oliver Reiss’ Under-18s were just a small aspect in another successful year that has seen our budding young talent flourish.
Nico O’Reilly, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, Divin Mubama and Kaden Braithwaite all also made their senior debuts for Pep Guardiola with the latter becoming the third youngest to feature for the Blues in the Club’s history.
Both teams also set various new records along their journeys. Our Under-18s set a new record for the successive number of league wins (21) and a new league points tally (65).
And our EDS became the first team to win the PL2 title for a fourth time in the competition’s history.
To round off another incredible campaign, we take a look at 2024/25 for both teams...
ELITE DEVELOPMENT SQUAD
After moving up to become the Lead Coach of the EDS, Ben Wilkinson’s debut season with the squad has been nothing short of fantastic.
After having worked with a large majority of the squad in the Under-18s the two seasons prior, a real sense of understanding and togetherness shone through from the first day of the season.
Working with his assistant Craig Mudd, Wilkinson led the team to two Premier League 2 title wins - the league phase and play-off final - by showcasing possession-based, quick, fluid football.
First City remained focused on the 20 league phase games ahead, looking to better our results from last season which saw us place 23rd.
After falling to a defeat in the opening game of 2024/25, City went on a 10-game winning run, which would eventually end with 15 triumphs, two draws and three defeats as our young boys in blue topped the table with 47 points.
A record number of wins and points in the new format of the PL2, City also scored an impressive 61 goals and conceded just 23 to boast a goal difference of 38, another new record for the competition.
Also helping another young EDS side in the fight for the title was the experience of playing senior football in the EFL Trophy and getting the opportunity to once again go toe-to-toe with Europe’s other leading academies in the UEFA Youth League.
A penalty shootout win over Grimsby and defeats to Chesterfield and Lincoln were not enough to see us progress to the knockout stage of the EFL Trophy, but City enjoyed a much better success rate in Europe.
After an opening defeat to Inter Milan, back-to-back wins over Slovan Bratislava and Sparta Prague saw City find our feat.
A loss at Sporting CP (2-0), win over Feyenoord (6-1) and draw with Juventus (1-1) confirmed our place in the knockout stage of the UEFA Youth League.
City overcame FC Midtjylland on penalties before a 2-1 over Hoffenheim saw us progress to the quarter-final of the competition for the first time since 2017/18. A late 1-0 defeat at AZ Alkmaar saw the curtain fall on our European journey in April.
Our attention now completely on the PL2, City topped the table and were ready for the play-offs.
City showed tenacity and maturity to pull off extra-time wins over Liverpool and Arsenal before a 2-0 win over Manchester United in the semi-final.
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In the final, our last game of the season, City welcomed Southampton to the Joie Stadium in May.
Goals from Divin Mubama - who topped the PL2 goalscoring chart with 16 in 13 appearances - and Ashton Muir confirmed a second piece of silverware for the EDS to top a phenomenal campaign.
En route to silverware, a staggering 39 players from the Under-18s, EDS and first-team took to the pitch in the PL2 to help in individual development, returning from injury and looking to make their mark in the competition.
And Academy Director Thomas Kruecken and City boss Pep Guardiola were quick to give their congratulations to the team.
Krucken said: “To become Premier League 2 champions is a magnificent achievement for Ben [Wilkinson], the players, the staff and everyone connected to the Academy,” said Kruecken.
“Everyone has shown their quality day in, day out both in helping us to win the PL2 league phase and then successfully coming through the play-off rounds.
“Our Under-21s have also served as the benchmark for the style of play we want all our age groups to adopt here at the Academy.
“But the achievement would not have been possible without the hard work of every single person who strives to help make us better as an Academy.”