Man City leave top prospects out of youth games to test their first team credentials under Pep Guardiola

Manchester City's top prospects have been deliberately left out of youth games this season as part of their development towards the first team.

Ben Wilkinson took over the Under-18s at the beginning of the campaign with a remit to prepare as many players as possible for senior football at the Etihad as and when they are needed by Pep Guardiola. It has been another year of huge success across the club, with City winning their leagues at Under-18 and Under-23 level for a second successive season and those players contributing more appearances in first team squads than the previous season.

Academy director Jason Wilcox told recently of his belief that there are more players than ever ready for the demands of Guardiola's football, and the lengths that the academy are going to to replicate the environment of the Premier League champions in the building behind them at the City Football Academy is shown by the game management at Under-18 level. As well as being brought on at a tactical and technical level, the players have also been challenged mentally in order to get them in the right mindset to succeed under the exacting standards of the first team manager.

Also read: Jason Wilcox exclusive: City target future Ballon d'Or winners in academy reset

"We made a conscious decision at the start of the season to make sure everyone in the group got opportunities and rotate with team selection," Wilkinson told the Manchester Evening News. "Being at a club like this, you look at the first team and our players need to understand they're going to get left out of football matches and they need to understand how to react to that.

"If they react in the wrong way it doesn't matter who they are but they're not going to get picked. It has