Can Manchester City’s FA Youth Cup Winners Become Senior Citizens?

Manchester City won the 2008 FA Youth Cup on Wednesday night by beating Chelsea 4-2 (on aggregate) over two legs. It was the sixth time the club had reached the final of this prestigious competition and only the 2nd time they’d actually won the trophy.

The club’s first and only other success was back in 1986 when the Citizens beat local neighbours United with future first team stars Paul Lake, Andy Hinchcliffe, Steve Redmond and David White in the side. City also reached the final 2 years ago when they narrowly lost to Liverpool. However, if that losing team is anything to go by, expect a few of this season’s boys to make the step up to the first team soon.

First Team Success for the Class of 2006

In the last few season’s both Stuart Pearce and now Sven Goran Eriksson have blooded a number of the 2006 FA Youth Cup losing side that’ve gone on to save the club millions in the transfer market. The likes of Micah Richards, Kelvin Etuhu, Michael Johnson and Daniel Sturridge have all broken into the first team squad. In particular, young starlets Richards and Johnson have become mainstays off an ever-improving City side. In the current over-inflated transfer market that pair alone would cost in excess of £20million. After all, defensive powerhouse Richards has become an England senior team member and playmaking midfielder Johnson a regular England U21 member. Together they’ve made over 100 City first team appearances and should soon be joined by the latest wonderkid off the Citizens production line, the prolific 18-year-old Daniel Sturridge.

Sturridge Makes the Step up

Sturridge is a player destined for the top and comes from an impressive footballing family which includes two former professional, his uncles Dean and Simon. In this season’s competition the striker scored 7 goals in just 6 games. He failed to play in the 2nd leg of the final due to a knee injury sustained whilst playing for the first team at Sunderland last weekend. The youngster also played in the 2006 losing side and scored twice in the 2nd leg of the final against Liverpool to no avail. He made his first team debut at the age of 17 last season, but it’s in this campaign that the talented youngster finally announced himself on the Premier League stage. Sturridge has made just 4 first team appearances this season (2 starts) and has already scored twice. He scored his first senior goal within 2 minutes of coming on as a 46th minute substitute in the 2-1 FA Cup fourth round defeat at Bramall Lane in January. His first Premier League goal came just 3 days later at Pride Park. His 2 senior goals both came despite the precocious talent playing just 216 first team minutes this season. He possesses a goals per minute tally that compares favourably to all the City strikers used this season. After all, he’s had to compete for a first team place with the likes of Valeri Bojinov, Rolando Bianchi, Paul Dickov, Emile Mpenza, Darius Vassell, Georgios Samaras, Ched Evans, Nery Castillo, Benjani and Felipe Calceido over the course of Sven’s first season in charge. His senior appearances have been limited due to a series of injuries that have hampered his fledgling career but with the likes of Sturridge you get the feeling that the cream will most definitely rise to the top.

Boro Boys Leading the Way

City are one of the few clubs to have fast tracked their crop of talented youngsters from the FA Youth Cup sides to the first team. The main exponents of this in recent times are both Boro and Villa. Middlesbrough won the 2004 trophy and a number of that side have since made the step up to the senior team in the shape of current first team squad members David Wheater, Adam Johnson and Tony McMahon. Boro beat Villa in that season’s final with a number of the Villans players also making the first team grade such as Craig Gardner and Gabriel Agbonlahor. However, it’s definitely the North-East side that are the Premier League leaders in terms of blooding youngsters. After all, they’ve included 14 players in their match day squads over the course of this season that’ve progressed through their ranks.

Familiar Faces from Past Youth Cup Finals

Over the years the FA Youth Cup final has seen the emergence of a number of future Premier League and world stars such as Theo Walcott (2005 loser), Wayne Rooney (2002 loser), Joe Cole & Michael Carrick (1999 winners), Jonathan Woodgate, Paul Robinson, Harry Kewell & Alan Smith (1997 winners), Jamie Carragher & Michael Owen (1996 winners), Frank Lampard & Rio Ferdinand (1996 losers). However, the most star-studded side of them all was the Manchester United side that lost in the 1993 final. That team included the likes of David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Robbie Savage. This season’s victors Manchester City will be hoping that their current crop of youngsters can also progress in a similar style to that illustrious group. One thing’s for certain, if the class of 2008 produces anything like the talent of City’s 2006 losing team, then Sven and the Citizens will be over the Blue Moon!

Written by Christian Goodbrand

Tags: Aston Villa, Citizens, FA youth cup final, Manchester City, Middlesbrough

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 12:25 and is filed under Features, Home Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.