It is not unkind to say that many Manchester City fans will not have heard of Darko Gyabi before Friday. Even if you take a particular interest in the academy sides, the former Millwall youngster spent the first half of the last campaign injured on the sidelines before coming back into the Under-23 side that won the Premier League 2 title under coach Brian Barry-Murphy.
And yet, Leeds United have agreed a deal to sign the 18-year-old midfielder for a fee of £5m. Despite him featuring in precisely zero first team squads under Pep Guardiola, a Premier League club is willing to splash a substantial fee on him.
It helps of course that the same club are getting £45m from City for Kalvin Phillips, but it does reflect a change in the game in recent years that the City academy has adapted for and is now aiding the first team strategy with. As well as having more players ready for the City first team, the academy have never been better at supplying talent for the top flight.
Also read: Kalvin Phillips set for start of Man City pre season camp after Leeds move
Selling academy youngsters for big fees is not a recent phenomenon, and Brahim Diaz, Kelechi Iheanacho, and Angus Gunn are some of the players who moved to big clubs for good money when it became clear their time at City was up. Nor is it uncommon for the bigger clubs to seek a bargain from other academies; City picked up Liam Delap from Derby and Sam Edozie and Gyabi from Millwall, while Leeds were one of the clubs who took advantage of Wigan's desperate plight a few years ago as they signed Joe Gelhardt for an incredibly low fee.
However, there has been a noted increase in recent years of Premier League clubs doing what Bundesliga sides have recently specialised in
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