Man City may run into PSR backlash with new transfer benchmarks despite £40m deal

Manchester City have become the gold standard for producing young talent.

Where once teams would queue up to pay millions of pounds for prospects developed under Sir Alex Ferguson at United, the success in City's academy has led English and European clubs to try and secure a piece of it for their future. Carlos Borges, Romeo Lavia, and Darko Gyabi are among those who have generated significant sums for the Blues without having made many appearances.

There are also youngsters who earn permanent moves through loan spells. Taylor Harwood-Bellis has finalised a £20m move to Southampton after helping them earn promotion to the Premier League, Tommy Doyle was a snip for Wolves earlier in the year and James Trafford earned a £15m transfer to Burnley last summer after impressing on loan at Bolton Wanderers.

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Loan experience has tended to count as a premium in the market given it indicates a more rounded player, although recent deals between clubs scrambling to comply with PSR threaten to set a new norm. Young players with little to no senior appearances including Lewis Dobbin (£9m) and Omari Kellyman (£19m) went for significant sums and those with a bit more - Ian Maatsen (£37.5m) and Elliott Anderson (£35m) both earned big moves - were another step up.

City have a number of players that would fit in both of those brackets, with Yan Couto and James McAtee in the latter. Couto has been benchmarked against fellow full-back Pedro Porro, who moved to Spurs in a £40m deal, while McAtee has two years of experience on loan including a season in the Premier League.

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