Manchester City once again sent a number of young players out on loan in the summer – and one appears to have found his feet very quickly.
Manchester City are renowned for producing top young talents having spent years investing the academy.
The club have done a brilliant job reaching the point of having an academy that is now home to many players with really high ceilings – and in recent years, other clubs have been clamouring to take potential stars of the future on loan.
One youngster who City have high hopes for is Callum Doyle, who is spending the season on loan at Championship promotion hopefuls Norwich City.
Doyle featured yesterday for the Canaries, and scored his first goal for the club.
Man City youngster Callum Doyle shines for Norwich as he scores against Watford
Last season, Doyle was with Leicester City on loan.
He made a promising start, but a knee injury forced him onto the sidelines for a few months.
That halted all momentum he had built. Doyle returned to the Leicester bench on Boxing Day and made his first appearance on New Year’s Day.
But Doyle could not really regain his place in the starting XI as Enzo Maresca’s side pushed for promotion.
City loaned him out to Norwich for the 2024/25 season and so far, he’s made eight appearances for the club across all competitions.
His latest showing came against Watford on Saturday, and Doyle seriously impressed at left-back.
Norwich won 4-1, and Doyle opened the scoring with a fizzing effort from the edge of the box after a lovely first touch to take the ball away from a Watford player.
Not content with just scoring, Doyle then laid on an assist for teammate Marcelino Nunez to score. Doyle now has two assists for Norwich after getting one against Blackburn Rovers back in August.
At one point in the first-half, Doyle also stopped a Watford corner going directly in.
Local publication The Pink Un were left impressed by Doyle, and gave him a 9/10 for his display.
A great start for Doyle at Norwich
Doyle was very unfortunate last season when he suffered his knee injury.
He had made a solid start, but was then forced out for a few months and that did rather affect the rest of his season in terms of getting regular minutes.
He is already proving very popular at Carrow Road, with fans expressing their delight yesterday on social media with the way he has started.
He’s played every minute so far, indicating that he is already very much in favour with manager Johannes Hoff Thorup.
This is a big season for Doyle. If he can sustain his current form through until the end of the season, there is every chance he could be promoted to the Manchester City first-team next season.
We have seen James McAtee do that after a couple of loan spells with Sheffield United, so the motivation is certainly there for Doyle.
