Man City have reversed their academy problem to make Txiki Begiristain's job easier

Only a few years ago, Manchester City youngsters were leaving the club because they weren't good enough for the first team.

City have grown their operations at the City Football Academy steadily in recent years, but for a time the only time players would leave would be to another sister club, or to raise fund for the City Football Group. That's not a bad business model, but there were fewer benefits to City as a parent club with a lack of a production line from academy to the first team.

In the last three or four seasons, however, more and more players have been utilised from the academy, and now City are in a position where they have gone from having no players of first team quality to more than they need. Instead of turning one problem into another, there appears to be a sensible solution that's also benefitting the first team.

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Phil Foden will always be the poster boy of City's academy, with a rapid rise through the age groups to become a key member of Pep Guardiola's title-winning squads. While his quality is a step above most that will ever pass through the academy, though, more are pushing the first team, and it's no coincidence that there are a solid group of players every year who can supplement senior training.

The chance to train against the world's best is a factor often cited by these youngsters as key to their development, but it comes with a catch - the improvement they get on a daily basis means they will quickly outgrow under-23 football.

In the last year, the likes of Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Tommy Doyle and Eric Garcia all have had to leave because they are too good for the youth team but maybe not