Manchester City F.C. EDS and Academy


Manchester City is represented at Reserve level for football by the Elite Development Squad, also referred to as just the Elite Squad, or EDS, a predominantly 'Under-23' side that replaced the previous Reserve team in a move to focus on youth development post-academy. The club is represented at the 'Under-18' level by the Manchester City Academy team.

Elite Development Squad

The Elite Development Squad from season 2012–13 plays in the Under 21 Premier League and
previously played in the Premier Reserve League North. Starting with the 2011–12 season, the EDS competed in the NextGen Series competition,
a Champions League format tournament only open to a select group of 'Under-19' teams located in western Europe.
The NextGen Series organisers invited the 16 teams competing in the inaugural season of this new competition based on which clubs were considered to have the best academies in Europe.
The EDS will continue to play fixtures in both the Manchester Senior Cup and Lancashire Senior Cup plus several other matches and tournaments such as the Central League Cup.
Manchester City have fielded a reserve team since 1892, when the reserves played in the Lancashire Combination. The reserves were champions of the Lancashire Combination in 1901–02.
The club left the Lancashire Combination in 1911 to join the Central League upon its formation. The City reserve team then played in the Central League until 2000, winning it on three occasions in the 1977–78, 1986–87 and 1999–2000 seasons. In 2006 the club re-entered the Central League – now the Pontin's League – but this time in order to provide games for the 'Under-17' age group of players.

Home ground

The EDS currently play all of their home fixtures at the CFA Academy stadium in Manchester.

Squad numbers

The squad numbers depicted for the EDS players in this article are the MCFC first team squad numbers – which means that these are the shirt numbers that the EDS players will wear if and when team-sheeted to play for the MCFC first team in either a friendly or competitive game. The MCFC official first team squad consists of about 40 players, which is why the EDS players' squad numbers start in the region of the middle forties. For the Premier League 2, players use the 1–11 numbering system whilst squad numbers are used for the EFL Trophy.
The MCFC first team squad numbers are normally assigned and published in late July during the close season and they remain constant for the entire duration of the upcoming season.

Current squad

Out on loan

Reserve/EDS Manager history

Academy

Manchester City's Academy is responsible for youth development at the club, with the goal of developing young players for the future. The academy is one of the most revered in the country and since its new incarnation in 1998 it has produced more professional players than any other Premier League club.

History

The club's first youth team was set up by Albert Alexander in the 1920s, known as the 'A' Team. From 1951 the 'A' team competed in the Lancashire League against reserve and youth teams of other clubs from North West England. From 1955 a second youth team, the 'B' team, typically comprising younger players than the 'A' team, competed in Division Two of the Lancashire League.
Youth football in England was restructured by the Football Association in 1997, with the introduction of the Academy system. Current International Youth Academy Director Jim Cassell joined from Oldham Athletic in July 1997 and was responsible for building Manchester City's youth structure, which gained Academy accreditation in 1998.
In its new incarnation, the 'A' and 'B' teams were replaced with 'Under-19' and 'Under-17' teams, which competed in the FA Premier Youth League. Since gaining FA approval the Academy has produced 35 first team players, 15 of whom have gained full international honours, including England internationals Shaun Wright-Phillips, Micah Richards and Joey Barton. The academy not only produces players for Manchester City but also players that have the talent to make the grade elsewhere, with players such as Glenn Whelan building a successful career at Sheffield Wednesday and now Stoke City and Dickson Etuhu similarly making his career at Fulham

Present day

Since the club was taken over in September 2008, with extra capital and increased ambitions the club looked to expand their successful academy further afield and City in the Community programme in Manchester. In 2010, the Platt Lane complex was upgraded to include new facilities, such as a gym, changing rooms, as well as office and seminar space The club also launched an instructional video website aimed at helping the new skills of prospective footballers

Squad numbers

The squad numbers depicted for the Academy players in this article are MCFC first team squad numbers – which means that these are the shirt numbers that the Academy players will wear if and when team-sheeted to play for the MCFC first team in either a friendly or competitive game.

Current squad

Out on loan

Academy Manager history

Academy graduates (1998–present)

PlayerCurrent ClubBornInternational HonoursDebutManager
Shaun Wright-PhillipsRetiredLondon Full England CapsAge 17 v Burnley, 24 Aug. 1999Joe Royle
Terry Dunfield Toronto
Vancouver Full Canada CapsAge 19 v Chelsea, 11 May 2001Joe Royle
Chris ShukerRetiredLiverpoolAge 19 v Notts County, 11 Sep. 2001Kevin Keegan
Dickson EtuhuFree agentKano Full Nigeria CapsAge 19 v Birmingham City, 15 Sep. 2001Kevin Keegan
Leon MikeRetiredManchester England U18Age 19 v Portsmouth, 16 Nov. 2001Kevin Keegan
Chris KillenRetiredWellington Full New Zealand CapsAge 20 v Rotherham United, 24 Nov. 2001Kevin Keegan
Tyrone MearsFree agentManchester Full Jamaican CapsAge 19 v Nottingham Forest, 30 Mar. 2002Kevin Keegan
Joey Barton Fleetwood Town
Liverpool Full England CapAge 21 v Bolton Wanderers, 5 Apr. 2003Kevin Keegan
Stephen JordanRetiredLiverpoolAge 21 v Bolton Wanderers, 5 Apr. 2003Kevin Keegan
Willo FloodRetiredDublin Ireland U21Age 18 v Total Network Solutions, 28 Aug. 2003Kevin Keegan
Glenn Whelan Fleetwood TownDublin Full Ireland CapsAge 19 v Total Network Solutions, 28 Aug. 2003Kevin Keegan
Stephen ElliottRetiredDublin Full Ireland CapsAge 20 v Bolton Wanderers, 21 Feb. 2004Kevin Keegan
Bradley Wright-Phillips Los AngelesLondon England U20Age 19 v Barnsley, 21 Sep. 2004Kevin Keegan
Nedum Onuoha Real Salt LakeWarri England U21Age 18 v Arsenal, 24 Oct. 2004Kevin Keegan
Jonathan D'LaryeaFree agentManchesterAge 19 v Arsenal, 24 Oct. 2004Kevin Keegan
Lee CroftRetiredWigan England U20Age 19 v Bolton Wanderers, 7 Mar. 2005Kevin Keegan
Stephen IrelandFree agentCork Full Ireland CapsAge 19 v Bolton Wanderers, 18 Sep. 2005Stuart Pearce
Micah RichardsRetiredBirmingham Full England CapsAge 17 v Arsenal, 22 Oct. 2005Stuart Pearce
Ishmael Miller Tranmere RoversManchester England U21Age 19 v Wigan Athletic, 18 Mar. 2006Stuart Pearce
Michael JohnsonRetiredManchester England U21Age 18 v Wigan Athletic, 21 Oct. 2006Stuart Pearce
Daniel SturridgeFree agentBirmingham Full England CapsAge 17 v Reading, 3 Feb. 2007Stuart Pearce
Kasper Schmeichel Leicester CityCopenhagen Full Denmark CapsAge 19 v West Ham United, 11 Aug. 2007Sven-Göran Eriksson
Shaleum Logan AberdeenManchesterAge 19 v Bristol City, 29 Aug. 2007Sven-Göran Eriksson
Kelvin Etuhu Carlisle UnitedKanoAge 19 v Norwich City, 25 Sep. 2007Sven-Göran Eriksson
Ched Evans Fleetwood Town F.C.Rhyl Full Wales CapsAge 18 v Norwich City, 25 Sep. 2007Sven-Göran Eriksson
Sam WilliamsonRetiredManchesterAge 20 v Portsmouth, 20 Apr. 2008Sven-Göran Eriksson
Vladimír Weiss Slovan BratislavaBratislava Full Slovakia CapsAge 19 v Bolton Wanderers, 24 May 2009Mark Hughes
Dedryck Boyata Hertha BSCBrussels Full Belgium CapsAge 19 v Middlesbrough, 2 Jan. 2010Roberto Mancini
Abdisalam Ibrahim PafosMogadishu Full Norway CapsAge 18 v Scunthorpe United, 24 Jan. 2010Roberto Mancini
Greg Cunningham Cardiff CityGalway Full Ireland CapsAge 18 v Scunthorpe United, 24 Jan. 2010Roberto Mancini
Alex Nimely Kettering TownMonrovia England U20Age 18 v Burnley, 3 Apr. 2010Roberto Mancini
Javan Vidal Kettering TownManchester England U20Age 21 v West Bromwich Albion, 22 Sep. 2010Roberto Mancini
Ben Mee BurnleyManchester England U21Age 20 v West Bromwich Albion, 22 Sep. 2010Roberto Mancini
John Guidetti Deportivo AlavésStockholm Full Sweden CapsAge 18 v West Bromwich Albion, 22 Sep. 2010Roberto Mancini
Chris Chantler Ossett UnitedManchesterAge 20 v Juventus, 16 Dec. 2010Roberto Mancini
Abdul Razak IK SiriusAbidjan Full Ivory Coast CapsAge 18 v West Bromwich Albion, 5 Feb. 2011Roberto Mancini
Ryan McGivern LinfieldNewry Full Northern Ireland CapsAge 21 v Sunderland, 3 Apr. 2011Roberto Mancini
Reece WabaraRetiredBirmingham England U20Age 19 v Bolton Wanderers, 22 May 2011Roberto Mancini
Karim Rekik Hertha BSCRotterdam Full Netherlands CapsAge 16 v Birmingham City, 21 Sep. 2011Roberto Mancini
Luca Scapuzzi Pro SestoMilanAge 20 v Birmingham City, 21 Sep. 2011Roberto Mancini
Denis Suárez Celta VigoVigo Full Spain CapAge 17 v Wolverhampton Wanderers, 26 Oct. 2011Roberto Mancini
Jérémy HélanRetiredParis France U19Age 20 v Aston Villa, 25 Sep. 2012Roberto Mancini
Marcos Lopes Nice
Belém de Maria Full Portugal CapAge 17 v Watford, 5 Jan. 2013Roberto Mancini
Emyr Huws Ipswich TownLlanelli Full Wales CapsAge 20 v Blackburn Rovers, 15 Jan. 2014Manuel Pellegrini
José Ángel Pozo Rayo VallecanoMálaga Spain U21Age 18 v Sheffield Wednesday, 24 Sep. 2014Manuel Pellegrini
Kelechi Iheanacho Leicester CityImo State Full Nigeria CapsAge 18 v Watford, 29 Aug. 2015Manuel Pellegrini
Manu García Sporting GijónOviedo Spain U19Age 17 v Sunderland, 22 Sep. 2015Manuel Pellegrini
George Evans Derby CountyCheadle England U20Age 20 v Sunderland, 22 Sep. 2015Manuel Pellegrini
Bersant Celina Swansea CityPrizren Full Kosovo CapsAge 19 v Norwich, 9 Jan. 2016Manuel Pellegrini
Angeliño Manchester CityCoristanco Spain U21Age 19 v Aston Villa, 30 Jan. 2016Manuel Pellegrini
Cameron Humphreys Zulte WaregemManchester England U19Age 17 v Aston Villa, 30 Jan. 2016Manuel Pellegrini
Aleix García Manchester CityUlldecona Spain U21Age 18 v Chelsea, 21 Feb. 2016Manuel Pellegrini
Tosin Adarabioyo Manchester CityManchester England U19Age 18 v Chelsea, 21 Feb. 2016Manuel Pellegrini
David Faupala VallettaBully-les-Mines France U18Age 19 v Chelsea, 21 Feb. 2016Manuel Pellegrini
Brandon Barker RangersManchester England U20Age 19 v Chelsea, 21 Feb. 2016Manuel Pellegrini
Pablo Maffeo Girona
Sant Joan Despi Spain U21Age 19 v Steaua București, 24 Aug. 2016Pep Guardiola
Brahim Diaz Real MadridMálaga Spain U21Age 17 v Swansea, 21 Sep. 2016Pep Guardiola
Phil Foden Manchester CityStockport England U21Age 17 v Feyenoord, 21 Nov. 2017Pep Guardiola
Lukas Nmecha Manchester CityHamburg England U21
Germany U21		Age 19 v Leicester City, 19 Dec. 2017Pep Guardiola
Tom Dele-Bashiru WatfordManchester Nigeria U20Age 18 v Leicester City, 19 Dec. 2017Pep Guardiola
Claudio Gomes Manchester CityArgenteuil France U19Age 18 v Chelsea, 5 Aug. 2018Pep Guardiola
Arijanet Muric Manchester CityZürich Full Kosovo CapsAge 19 v Oxford United, 25 Sep. 2018Pep Guardiola
Adrián Bernabé Manchester City Spain U17Age 17 v Oxford United, 25 Sep. 2018Pep Guardiola
Eric García Manchester CityBarcelona Spain U21Age 17 v Leicester City, 18 Dec. 2018Pep Guardiola
Ian Poveda Leeds UnitedLondon England U19Age 18 v Burton Albion, 23 Jan. 2019Pep Guardiola
Felix Nmecha Manchester CityHamburg England U19Age 18 v Burton Albion, 23 Jan. 2019Pep Guardiola
Taylor Harwood-Bellis Manchester CityStockport England U19Age 17 v Preston North End, 24 Sep. 2019Pep Guardiola
Tommy Doyle Manchester CityManchester England U18Age 18 v Southampton, 29 Oct. 2019Pep Guardiola

Honours

Elite Development Squad