Manchester City are famed for producing exciting young players after investing heavily in the academy over the years.
City are a wealthy club and spend a lot of money on players for the first-team.
But the Manchester City owners have certainly put a lot of cash into the CFA and in recent years, we have really seen it bear fruit.
The likes of Phil Foden, Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb have all made their marks with the first-team, with James McAtee looking like he could be the next gem to emerge.
But City currently have one young player out on loan who looks like he could genuinely become a first-team player next season.
Callum Doyle is spending the season with Norwich City – and it’s been an exciting couple of month so far.
Man City youngster Callum Doyle impressing with Norwich and England
Last season, Callum Doyle went on loan to Leicester City, but the campaign didn’t really go as he’d hoped.
He started really strongly for Enzo Maresca’s side, playing every minute of the first seven Championship games.
But he then suffered an untimely knee injury that would sideline him for a couple of months. Doyle then struggled to regain his momentum, making appearances here and there. He finished the campaign with 23 appearances to his name.
Doyle is therefore out to make up for lost time with Norwich – and he’s started really well.
As was the case last season, Doyle has become an instant regular for his loan club, making 11 appearances so far.
Doyle scored his first goal for Norwich last month against Watford, and has actually been a real attacking threat this term.
The 21-year-old is a centre-back by trade, but has sometimes operated as a left-back which has allowed him to get forward and contribute one goal and three assists.
Doyle’s impressive form continued over the international break with the England U21s. He got on the scoresheet last night in the 7-0 win over Azerbaijan.
Doyle could be future competition for Josko Gvardiol at Man City
It has been a very promising start so far for Doyle and fans have been impressed with the youngster’s performances at Carrow Road.
For fans wanting a very brief overview of how he’s done, respected statistic website WhoScored have him ranked as the second-best Norwich player so far this term behind only top goalscorer Borja Sainz. Doyle has an impressive average match rating of 7.18.
There is always talk about City splashing cash on new players.
But Doyle is a player who could help the club to save millions next summer if he continues on this trajectory.
He is in a similar mold to Josko Gvardiol in that he’s a centre-back by trade by can play left-back. He is technical like the Croatian and is similar to him physically.
Pundit Chris Sutton raved about Doyle a couple of weeks ago, describing him as ‘powerful’ and as having been Noriwch’s best player this season (via Sky Sports).
It really would be fantastic to see another academy product break through to the first-team, and Doyle seems like he could do that in 2025/26. After previously good spells with Coventry City and Sunderland, he is developing very nicely indeed.
