Manchester City favour foreign youngsters, Devante Cole says

Foreign youngsters get preferential treatment in Manchester City's academy, according to one former player.

Devante Cole, son of former England striker Andy, left City in the summer without making a first-team appearance and has since scored five goals in nine starts for league one Bradford.

City boss Manuel Pellegrini only this week stressed the importance of bringing through youth-team players to first-team level.

But Cole has told the Daily Mail he never had a chance of making it at the Etihad, despite City's expensive academy set-up and a published ambition to "secure our future as one of the world's leading football clubs by investing in the development of young talent".

"I had a choice, them or [Manchester] United," said Cole, who toured South Africa with the first team in 2013. "I picked City because I enjoyed it more and it was the best place for youngsters. They'd brought through players like Micah Richards and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

"Then they got their money and everything changed straight away. They started buying foreign boys for the academy and all the English lads got pushed to one side. As you got older, you realised you wouldn't get a chance of progressing no matter what you did.

"Some players were picked regardless of form because they'd had millions of pounds spent on them. It wasn't fair on the ones who'd come through the ranks.

"I played for the first team in South Africa but when I came back, I wasn't in and around it. The foreign players were always pushed first and if you'd seen us all train, you wouldn't see a difference in ability.

"It is very cliquey at City. The manager has that connection with some players, Hispanic-like. I still have my friends there and they tell me this, and obviously when I was there I saw it as well. They'd speak Spanish on the training pitch."

City spent more than £50m on England internationals Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph in the summer and also brought in Patrick Roberts from Fulham.