Manchester City is dangerously close to losing its soul as a playing club

Manchester City is veering dangerously close to completely losing its soul as a playing club despite the stated “holistic” approach of management. An English club that once upon a time fielded players almost entirely from the British Isles, the Blues are close to completing a transition to an entirely foreign squad. Under Kevin Keegan, the Blues fielded a few entirely non-English squads but Irishman Richard Dunne, once the Citizens skipper, was a mainstay of the side.

James Milner’s contract impasse, not entirely surprising if you consider the foreign brass at Manchester City and their unwillingness to completely appreciate the assets of the player, is the latest in a line of snubs of English or homegrown players at the club. Micah Richards‘ injuries eventually got the best of him, and Gareth Barry was allowed to leave the club perhaps at the right time but was replaced by the Brazilian Fernandinho. The Blues, despite lofty rhetoric, have not had an attacking player of significant impact from the club’s Academy since Stephen Ireland left for Aston Villia as part of the deal to bring Milner to Eastlands in 2010. Daniel Sturridge, who came through City’s system, had left for Chelsea the previous summer.

The rhetoric from Manchester City’s management has been echoed by many fans — The Citizens will stop spending and start bringing through homegrown talent in the near future. Chelsea made similar claims but today boasts only two English first-team players, and only one truly homegrown player in captain John Terry. The pressure to stay at the top of the Premier League and competitive in Europe is dictated Chelsea’s decisions and despite a £200m outlay on a new training and academy facility, these pressures are also likely to guide City’s decisions.

Chelsea did have a robust amount of talent coming through the club’s system but inevitably the London club would allow the English talent to leave Stamford Bridge, initially on loan and then permanently. Much fancied youth players like Michael Mancienne, Josh McEachran and others would eventually develop away from the club.

Manchester City has a strong core of young players in its system currently, mostly foreign. But no guarantee exists that Karim Rekik, Marcos Lopes or José Ángel Pozo will ever get a realistic first-term shot. The number of good young British players in the Citizens system has dropped off dramatically, and club Elite Development Squad captain Emyr Huws — who is Welsh — was recently sold to Wigan.

While it is fair to point out the drop-off in the level of English talent over the course of the last decade, it is also certainly worthy of discussion to claim City, Chelsea and Manchester United have been unwilling to give younger English players a fair shot in the first team. Danny Welbeck’s abrupt end to a promising Manchester United career and his sale to Arsenal demonstrated that clubs near the top of the English game are no longer willing to patiently develop even exceptional English talent. Arsenal stands in contrast to this model, but Arsene Wenger’s main motivation may be less developing home grown talent and more around saving money and keeping hold of players who won’t desert him the way Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabergas and Robin van Persie did.

Every title winning club needs a player of Milner’s grit and quality. Any club that will be “Champions of England” ought to have at least a handful of English field players contributing to the side’s success. Milner has played a critical role in both Manchester City title winning seasons. His limitless energy, tactical versatility and his ability to play often in a wide midfield role have made him a useful player even when surrounded by an expensively assembled side of arguably world class stars.

Arsenal and Liverpool are both monitoring Milner’s contract situation, and for either side to snap up the player would be a major coup. But for Manchester City, losing Milner would just be another step towards the club losing its soul as a playing side.