Manwan: Manchester City’s youth training provides wing talents for the first team, and 17-year-old McKaydu is the leader

On October 16, the "Manchester Evening News" wrote an article stating that Manchester City's youth training academy is continuously supplying Guardiola's first team with young wing talents that meet its tactical needs.

Ben Wilkinson, head coach of the U21 echelon, bluntly said that under the trend of modern football, these young wingers who are good at 1-on-1 breakthroughs are "absolute treasures", and the 17-year-old Ryan McAdoo, who transferred from Chelsea, is one of the best.

With many teams today adopting man-to-man defense and high-intensity pressing, skilled and confrontational wingers like McAdoo, Heskey and Dunbar-McDonald have become extremely valuable. He emphasized that the focus of the youth training academy is not only to improve players' on-ball skills, but also to enrich their "skill package" and focus on cultivating their off-ball abilities, including defense, connection with the team, and pressing opportunities.

The growth of McAdu is the epitome of the success of this concept. When he joined from Chelsea a year ago, he had potential but was still immature and needed constant guidance from his coach on the sidelines. Now, through personal special training, his decision-making ability has greatly improved. In this month's UEFA Youth League, he scored a stunning solo goal, a video of which has received hundreds of thousands of views on social media.

What is more important is the mature mentality shown by McAdu. He clearly recognized his shortcomings and said: "I still feel that I need to improve in some aspects, such as my defensive actions." He is eager to become a "trustworthy player on both offense and defense" to meet Guardiola's requirements.

In the face of two different development paths, Sancho (leaving the team as early as possible to seek opportunities) and Foden (patiently waiting to become the core), McKay Du chose the latter. He was grateful that he could train with the first team frequently and said: "I'm happy to see my teammates make their debut, and hopefully it will be me soon, but I need to be patient. The key is to seize the moment and be patient on the court."