Callum Doyle has made a sobering admission about his time at Manchester City as he completed his move to Wrexham on Thursday.
Earlier this week, Wrexham agreed a package worth around £7.5million for Doyle, and both clubs have now confirmed the 21-year-old’s move.
Doyle becomes the latest departure from Manchester City, who have sold, released or loaned out more than 20 players between the senior ranks and the U21s this summer.
Meanwhile, Doyle becomes Wrexham’s 10th summer signing as the Red Dragons aim to seal an unprecedented fourth promotion in a row.
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Callum Doyle before a match for Norwich on loan from Manchester City
Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Callum Doyle admits he has been wanting to leave Manchester City permanently for some time
In Callum Doyle‘s first interview with the Wrexham media team, he shares how happy he is to have joined the club.
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Worryingly for City, the “great” player also admits that he had been looking to leave the club permanently for quite a while.
“I’m buzzing to join the club,” said Doyle. “I’ve been wanting a permanent move for some time now and I can’t wait to get started.
“I’ve been interested in the club from afar and kept a close eye on the journey and now I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Meanwhile, Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said: “We’re delighted to welcome Callum to the club.
“He’s a talented young player with a lot of Championship experience.
“We’re looking forward to him joining up with the squad and working with him.”
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Doyle’s admission that he had been looking to leave City for some time is another damning indictment regarding the club’s pathway from the youth team.
Over the years, City have had many talented youngsters in their ranks who would have had a real chance of becoming first-team stars, but most have moved on.
Pep Guardiola has been accused of preferring established, expensive players over developing homegrown talent.
In turn, this has limited plenty of superb academy graduates from becoming established first-teamers.
Doyle played for Sunderland in 2021/22, when they were in League One, and then took in loan stints at Coventry, Leicester, and Norwich.
During his time on City’s books, he never made a single competitive senior outing for Guardiola’s side.
And there’s a good chance Doyle is not the only City academy graduate who wanted to leave because of a lack of faith in the current pathway.
At the same time, academy graduates have become a major asset when it comes to making pure profit from PSR and, as such, this kind of thing will likely continue.