Manchester City have been issued with a clear hands off warning by Barcelona and the club’s president over the future of their finest emerging young talents.
The Premier League champions, alongside their scouting network working on behalf of the wider City Football Group, are known for their top-level talent identification standard, often recruiting some of the best names in the world of youth football.
Recent seasons have seen Manchester City beat away competition for some of South America’s strongest rising names in particular, with the likes of Yan Couto, Maximo Perrone, Claudio Echeverri, and Julian Alvarez committing their future to the City Group project.
However, whilst Manchester City certainly take on their fair share of rising names, and reap the rewards both in terms of first-team success and financial boosts to the over City Football Group revenue and the Etihad club, they continue to see global superstars emerge elsewhere.
One notable example is FC Barcelona’s continuous production of excellent young talents, with the most-recent European Championships in Germany showcasing a number of La Masia graduates starring for eventual winners Spain.
Speaking during a press conference earlier this week, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was quizzed on the futures of Barcelona’s latest best young talents emerging from their infamous La Masia academy system, including the likes of Pedri and Lamine Yamal.
“They are too good,” Guardiola said, before revealing a clear hands off warning issued to himself and the Etihad Stadium club by Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta.
“They are not for sale – the president told me,” Guardiola continued. “And I don’t say that with irony. In fact, Barcelona have signed more players from Manchester City than the other way around.”
Reports from Spain over the last few years have previously indicated that City have been attentive to the progression and potential of Barcelona’s now-present day wonderkids, by making ambitious offers to recruit players and take them away from their home nations.
One report from Spanish media in September 2023 claimed that Manchester City officials ‘went all out’ to try and sign Lamine Yamal in that summer, but were ultimately unsuccessful, whilst relations between the two clubs ‘worsened’ as a result.
Similarly, in August 2019, City were claimed to have had an interest in the then-Tenerife youngster Pedri – aged 16 – and sent scouts to Marbella to monitor the player. However, it was made clear at the time that there was no talk of a bid or contact from the Premier League club.
Just months later, Spanish media revealed that the teenager had agreed to join Barcelona in the following year, rejecting several offers from a number of clubs including Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Liverpool.