Man City keen to recruit young local talent, says director of football Txiki Begiristain
Friday 2 September 2016 23:20, UK
Manchester City director of football Txiki Begiristain has stressed recruiting the best local young talent is just as important to the club as bringing in exciting prospects from overseas.
City have made host of new signings this summer, including 19-year-olds Gabriel Jesus, Marlos Moreno and Oleksandr Zinchenko - a Brazil forward, Colombia forward and Ukraine midfielder respectively - and 20-year-old Germany winger Leroy Sane.
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While describing that quartet as being regarded by City as "some of the world's best young players in their positions", Begiristain also emphasised the club's desire to take in youngsters from not so far afield.
"Our global network of scouts are working continuously to identify and recruit the best young talent on the planet to develop with our methodology and coaching here in Manchester," he told the club's official website.
"Equally important to us is bringing in the best local talent from here in Manchester - we have a clear idea on how we want our young players to play and so we identify footballers who we believe can play in this style, no matter where they're from.
"It's been a really exciting summer for us, bringing in the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Marlos Moreno, Leroy Sane and Oleksandr Zinchenko, who we believe are some of the world's best young players in their positions, as well as seeing our academy develop talents like Tosin Adarabioyo, Angelino, Pablo Maffeo (and) Angus Gunn to step up and look at home around the first-team setup."
City's recent 1-0 victory over Steaua Bucharest at the Etihad Stadium saw new manager Pep Guardiola bring Manchester-born defender Adarabioyo, 18, on as a second-half substitute - his second senior appearance, following a start in the FA Cup against Chelsea last season.
