Man City £5m transfer exit proves Jadon Sancho situation was an anomaly

One of the most startling aspects of a remarkable transfer windows for Manchester City was the number of young players who left the club.

Some very promising academy stars departed on permanent deals, and while Romeo Lavia and Gavin Bazunu were the headlines figures — going to Southampton for eight-figure deals and starting the opening games of the season — it was not these that had the biggest impact in the dressing rooms of the Under-18s and Under-21s. The pair are talented, but also widely known; Bazunu saved a penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo last season to make news around the world, while Lavia has been part of Pep Guardiola's first team squad for some time and earned plenty of praise from the manager.

Instead, it was the news that Leeds United were signing Darko Gyabi for £5m that really opened the eyes of many young players at City, who know realistically that their chances of making it into the senior side at the Etihad are small. There is no doubt that Gyabi, an 18-year-old midfielder, has lots of potential but there is also no hiding the fact that he played very little football last year after breaking his fifth metatarsal early in the season.

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The fact that a Premier League club could come in with serious money offering a quicker route to top-level football even for players who haven't been the obvious standouts in academy football hammered home to everyone that it could happen to them. While the aim is to take every opportunity, Gyabi moving saw it dawn on others that the talent needed to simply make it to this stage of the City academy could be enough to earn them a good move elsewhere.

Gyabi was far from the last departure;