MEN Sport sat down with Manchester City's new Academy Director Thomas Krucken to discuss his vision for the club's young players in an exclusive interview.
There is a line from the poem 'This is the Place' that wraps around the Manchester City first team dressing room at the Etihad Stadium: "Some are born here, some drawn here but we all call it home."
ALSO READ: Pep Guardiola confirms Jack Grealish injury and teases Jurgen Klopp dinner ahead of Liverpool FC vs Man City Most importantly, he remembers the people he met during his placement at City. He recalls the time Kevin Keegan invited him into the director's box at Maine Road, lending the young German his tie after he hadn't realised the dress code required one. He speaks fondly of old Academy head Jim Cassell and the impact of former Head of Coaching Paul Power.
There is an impressive tally of first team graduates, with Pep Guardiola alone giving out 29 debuts to academy youngsters. The most high-profile of those is Phil Foden, and the image of Guardiola handing him his debut and the date of that game makes up a huge mural high on the walls of the academy gym to serve as motivation to the next generation.
"We believe the speed of the game will increase, that's for sure," he explains. "When you think about the past when Shaun Goater played up front with Paulo Wanchope and Richard Dunne was doing all he can on the defensive side. It was a totally different game. Last week, Pep Guardiola spoke at length in his press conference of how successful City's academy has been - not just in developing world-class players, but in developing world-class young people. Krucken agrees.
Behind his desk at the CFA, Krucken has a whiteboard with the names and faces of every academy player from under-9 level up to the Elite Development Squad. At one point, he breaks off his trail of thought to watch an under-10 training session taking place outside his window.
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