'World is watching' Man City youngsters get £17.3m transfer message

Manchester City youngsters know that they do not need first team football at the Etihad to be recognised, according to their new Under-21 coach.

Ben Wilkinson has stepped up to take charge of the Under-21s after a number of successful years with the Under-18s, and will hope that the continuity of working with some of the same players can aid their development. There will also be expectation that a pre-season with Pep Guardiola will help many who went away on the summer tour to the United States.

Nico O'Reilly appears to have done enough to convince first team staff that he can be a part of the first team squad and several others have gone on loan - Mohamadou Susoho has joined Peterborough while Callum Doyle completed a move to Norwich - but many others will be predominantly based with the Under-21s. There, they will aim to improve individually but also work collectively to help the team get results.

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While the dream is to impress Guardiola and play with the City first team, previous City youngsters have shown that senior football is not necessary to earn a big opportunity. The sale of Carlos Borges to Ajax last summer for £17.3m, who beat off strong competition from West Ham, is seen in the academy as the perfect example of that.

"With all these lads, through opportunity or performance on matter how they do in America our games programme will still give them a fantastic platform," said Wilkinson.

"What we've seen in the past, specifically with wingers with Carlos [Borges] and Dire [Mebude]. Carlos had one year where he was electric in the Under-21s and at the end of the