I made my Man City debut at Juventus - then never played again

Manchester City were feeling the holiday cheer as they headed to Juventus for a Europa League game in December 2010.

What might have been a stiff test of Roberto Mancini's squad had instead become an opportunity for rest, with the Blues having already qualified from the group and the Old Lady - amid some suspicion they hadn't treated the competition as seriously as they could have done - already out.

The City manager used the trip to give a host of academy players the chance to travel with the first team, and Chris Chantler, Alex Nimely, Scott Kay, Ben Mee, Abdi Ibrahim and Omar Elabdellaoui all crossed their fingers as they made their way to Italy. Chantler turned 20 on the day of the game, and Mancini made a point of wishing him happy birthday at the breakfast table after assistant Brian Kidd had let him know.

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Nimely started the match but otherwise it was a recognisable side that started the match as Mancini gave valuable minutes to some squad players. Pablo Zabaleta came on after an hour and then, with just two minutes to go, the manager turned to Cheadle-born Chantler.

“I was waiting for about five minutes, just standing there," he told the Manchester Evening News in 2019. "The game was 1-1 and nothing happened in the last 15 minutes, with Juve happy to just keep the ball.

“The ball didn’t go out of play and I had the feeling I would still be standing there when the final whistle went, and get hammered by the other lads afterwards!

“I got on for a minute or a minute and a half, but didn’t get a touch. Zabaleta tried to to pass to me so I would at least