Man City's owners have assured the club's academy that they are committed to developing their own players.
Academy chief Cassell's work will continue
Manchester City's owners have assured the club's academy that developing their own players remains an important part of their plans.
There were fears City's new-found wealth after the takeover from the Abu Dhabi United Group might hamper the development of young players in favour of the arrival of big-money signings.
However, City's academy director Jim Cassell has revealed new chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak is committed to developing the club's youth policy which has seen the likes of Micah Richards, Stephen Ireland and Michael Johnson come through the ranks in recent seasons.
"Any fears that we had were put to bed very early on when the new chairman Khaldoon Al Mabarak came to see me and I put a presentation on to show him exactly what the academy is about," Cassell told the
Daily Telegraph.
"That was on a Sunday morning and he was so enthused that he insisted on going straight from there to watch the under-10s, 12s and 14s games and he was very kind in his words afterwards.
Support
"All the indications so far are that we're going to get the support and the new owners are very keen for us to tell them about any additional support that we want. We just want to take it step by step because what we've got at the moment, works."
"The target is to keep working at the level that we've been working and if we can attract a better raw product and give them longer to develop, I see no reason why we shouldn't continue to produce players.
"Of course we've still got a role to play. In a sense, we've underpinned the club for a number of years and we've helped get them to the stage where they have been invested in very heavily now.
"We've already played a big part in the club and we can't be afraid of the additional support, but take advantage of it."
