Has Tommy Doyle got a future at Manchester City amid Cardiff City loan spell?

Tommy Doyle has had a mixed season whilst on loan away from Manchester City in 2021/22. 

Initially, the 20-year-old was sent on loan to Germany for the first half of the campaign, but struggled during his time in the Bundesliga 2, making just six league appearances for Hamburg – all from the bench.

As a result, his time in Germany came to an end in January, when Doyle was once again loaned out, this time to the Sky Bet Championship and Cardiff City.

Manchester City clearly see the EFL as the best place for Doyle’s development at present, but, this begs the question – does Doyle have a future with the Citizens once in the future?

Here, we assess his time at Cardiff City so far and try to offer a balanced verdict on Doyle’s future.

So far, Doyle has made 14 appearances for the Bluebirds, scoring twice and getting two assists in those matches.

Unlike in Germany, the Manchester City youngster has been a regular in Steve Morison’s side and has missed just one match.

In that sense, things are going well for Doyle and he has been putting in some good performances to keep his place in what is a very competitive Cardiff City midfield.

So much so that the young midfielder has earned himself a very respectable WhoScored rating of 6.83. A stark contrast to the 6.13 he earned during his six appearances in Germany.

With that being said, Doyle has shown he is a good player at this level, but that still doesn’t give us the information we need to make a decision on his Manchester City future.

To make it at City, you do not only have to be a good player, or even a very good player, you must be elite, and at 20-years-old it is still too soon to say whether Doyle is capable of making it to an elite level.

One thing you would say, though, is