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Manchester City’s Shea Charles during the Premier League match at the Gtech Community Stadium

The £108million Man City have made from selling academy prospects since 2019

Manchester City are known to be one of the biggest spenders in Europe, but they have managed to recoup some huge fees for their academy products over the years.

Since the takeover, the club have invested huge sums of money into the academy and they are now reaping the rewards. The likes of Phil Foden and Rico Lewis are regulars in the first team, while other academy graduates have found success elsewhere.

In the last five years, City have made around £108million through selling their academy prospects and we’ve collected them all into this list.

Shea Charles – £15million

Having made six first-team appearances under Pep Guardiola, City have decided to cash in on Charles this summer. The midfielder has penned a four-year deal with Southampton, in a deal worth up to £15million.

The 19-year-old predominantly plays as a holding midfielder, although he can also operate at centre-half or right back. He made 36 appearances for the under-21s last season and is a hotly-tipped prospect for the future.

James Trafford – £19million

Burnley are close to finalising a deal for Trafford after a fee with City was agreed upon. With add-ons included, the goalkeeper could cost Burnley up to £19million, which would be a club record.

After watching his heroics for England’s under-21s, Vincent Kompany will be thinking he’s landed a bargain.

Gavin Bazunu – £12million

After signing the Irish goalkeeper as a teenager from Shamrock Rovers for a mere £420,000, he spent his first few seasons at the club in the academy.

Bazunu then impressed while out on loan at Rochdale and Portsmouth which then prompted Southampton to swoop in. Their £12million signing ultimately couldn’t save them from relegation, but he undoubtedly has a bright future in the game.

Romeo Lavia – £10.5million

The Saints also splashed out on Lavia during the same window. After just one season at Saint Mary’s, Lavia could be in line for a sensational £50million switch to Liverpool. Watch this space.

Darko Gyabi – £5million

Following the teenagers £5million move to Leeds United last summer, we’ve only seen small glimpses of what Gyabi is capable of. The dynamic midfielder only featured in three first-team matches last season, but even that was enough to make a four-minute compilation of him.

Arijanet Muric – £2.5million

Kompany called in a favour with his former club last summer and managed to land a deal for Muric for just £2.5million. The towering goalkeeper kept 17 clean sheets last season and was one of the outstanding goalkeepers in the Championship.

Given how comfortable he is with the ball at his feet, you can tell he’s spent time in the City academy, although he might be about to lose his number one spot to Trafford.

Samuel Edozie – £10million

In 2019, City themselves spent a seven-figure fee to lure Edozie to their academy from Millwall. Edozie even looked like he would break into Pep Guardiola’s side at one point, although an injury at the wrong time hampered his first-team chance.

The Saints splashed out £10million on the winger in the end and he made 24 appearances across all competitions last season.

Juan Larios – £6million

Southampton clearly had some sort of fetish for signing City’s academy prospects in the summer of 2022 as Larios became their fourth signing from the club that summer.

Like many of the deals City sanctioned that summer, they also hold a buy-back clause and hefty sell-on clause in his contract. The 19-year-old only featured sparingly last season, but is a hotly tipped prospect for the future.

Lukas Nmecha – £11.7million

The dynamic forward had some promising loan spells at Preston North End and Anderlecht before deciding to make a permanent switch away from the Etihad.

Wolfsburg paid around £11.7million for the forward and he hasn’t looked back since. The 24-year-old has been capped seven times by Germany and has scored 14 goals across his two seasons with the German club.

His brother, Felix, also left City that summer and completed a free transfer to Wolfsburg. He recently secured a noteworthy move to Borussia Dortmund.

Ivan Ilic – £8.5million

After picking up the midfielder from Red Star Belgrade in 2017, he joined up with the City academy before spending the next few years out on loan.

In the end, they managed to flip him for a quick profit as Hellas Verona came in with an offer of £8.5million in the summer of 2021. He’s played over 70 matches for the Italian outfit since.

Thierry Ambrose – £1.8million

Ambrose never made a first-team appearance for City, but they still managed to cash a cool £1.8million when selling him to Metz in 2020.

Taylor Richards – £2.5million

Brighton tend to get their recruitment spot on, but things never quite clicked for Richards on the South Coast. After some impressive performances for Man City at youth level, Brighton spent £2.5million to sign him in 2019.

After spending the last three seasons out on loan, he made a permanent switch to QPR. The 22-year-old is clearly a very talented player, although injuries have hampered him of late.

Manu Garcia – £4million

Manuel Pellegrini handed Garcia his debut in 2015 and he went on to make four appearances for the club before being shipped out on loan.

After showcasing his talents for the likes of NAC Breda and Toulouse, Sporting de Gijon splashed £4million on the midfielder to sign him on a permanent basis.


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