Manchester City have produced a number of eye-catching attackers for Pep Guardiola but the academy has seen something different this year
Pep' Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, issues instructions to James McAtee and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey during the UEFA Champions League 2 match between City and Feyenoord
James McAtee and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey
For more than 10 years, Manchester City have been trying to produce academy players for Pep Guardiola. Major changes made to coaching more than a decade ago were implemented with the intention of making it easier to bridge the gap between youth football in England and the qualities that the manager needs for his first team.
Phil Foden has been the obvious success story, but there have been others. Oscar Bobb, James McAtee, Rico Lewis and Nico O'Reilly have all played their part this season after playing their way through the age groups at the City Football Academy.
It remains to be seen which if any youngsters will be promoted to the first team in the summer, but this season has seen a different kind of quality shine through in the Under-21s. In the team closest to Guardiola's, defensive resilience has been one of the biggest strengths.
The last week of the season saw the team, coached by Ben Wilkinson in his first year at the age group after moving up from the Under-18s, clinch the national championship. They had already finished top after 24 league games, but battled through knockout matches against Liverpool, Arsenal, United, and then Southampton in the final to be claimed winners.
Goals from Divin Mubama and Ashton Muir gave them a 2-0 win at the Joie Stadium, but the nil was as important as the two. A back four featuring Lakyle Samuel, Max Alleyne, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey and Stephen Mfuni was impressive again as City's strength came in their solidity.
That was recognised by the Premier League last week as Simpson-Pusey became the first defender to win their Player of the Season award at this level. Three City stars have won it in recent years, but they have all been attackers.
It has been a challenging year for Simpson-Pusey, who stepped up to the first team at one of their worst periods in years and made his full debut in the Champions League game at Sporting that ended in a 4-1 defeat. After a few more appearances, he suffered injury and found himself back with the Under-21s for the rest of the campaign.
Nevertheless, his form alongside Alleyne for Wilkinson was enough for him to win a big individual prize and also give his team the platform to claim silverware. After a disappointing league performance last year, the added steel this time went a long way and means that Simpson-Pusey can aim for senior football next season - either at the Etihad or elsewhere.
"I think at this level we've got the best two centre-backs in the league," said Wilkinson. "Watching the youth league this year, you go a long way to find a better pair than those two.
"I'm lucky to have had them across a three year period and seen them grow. They're fantastic players, I've got a lot of belief in them in terms of their own natural ability.
"Where they've improved significantly this year is in their defensive mentality and that understanding that to go and have the career they want they need to be better at defending and have that more warrior like mentality that you don't always get because of your journey that you have here in terms of how the games programme looks.
"[Jahmai] deserves huge credit, the ones that had won it for us are Oscar Bobb, [James] McAtee and Carlos Borges. It speaks volumes about what this team has looked like this year.
"In previous teams we've had some unbelievable attacking players and at the moment we've been a lot more solid and organised and a bit harder to beat with a slightly tougher mentality this year. It's great for the players because it gives them a bit more of a dose of reality."
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