Man City have perfect plan to cope with academy exits and Premier League rule change

What made Manchester City's academy clean sweep all the more remarkable this year was the fact that both the under-23s and under-18s underwent significant turnovers last summer.

City became the first team to win both the Premier League 2 and U18 Premier League in 2021, and repeated the feat this season under new coaches - and a lot of new players. Enzo Maresca and Carlos Vicens left their posts as academy coaches, with Brian Barry-Murphy coming in and Ben Wilkinson stepping up. The result was the same, with silverware from U16 to U23 level secured in 2021/22.

As is the norm with academy football, players get older and are either promoted to the first team or leave in search of first-team football, leaving the youth sides to rebuild most summers. This year is no exception, with as many as eight U23s potentially unavailable next season.

Kalvin Phillips could hand Man City the missing quality to unleash Jack Grealish

Already, full-back and former U18 captain Kwaku Oduroh has been released, with midfielder Darko Gyabi set for a £5m transfer to Leeds at the same time as Kalvin Phillips moves in the opposite direction.

Gyabi's season last year was disrupted by injury, with his expected price tag a reflection of how highly City rate him.

Reports suggest U23 captain CJ Egan-Riley and Sam Edozie could be set for permanent exits this summer - the latter for a significant fee if those rumours are to be believed. Both would be key players for the Elite Development Squad next season if they were to stay.

Then there are the talented academy players on the fringes of Pep Guardiola's first team like Cole Palmer, James McAtee, Liam Delap and Romeo Lavia. In the cases of Palmer and McAtee, they could be given more opportunities at City