Pellegrini tells Dyke big clubs only interested best players

Manchester City manager says academy may take years to bear fruit

Manuel Pellegrini has suggested it may be several years before Manchester City’s academy produces any players for the first team and put himself at odds with the FA chairman, Greg Dyke, by insisting the biggest clubs should only be interested in the best players.

“The other day I mentioned one English player [Raheem Sterling] as an example but it doesn’t mean we are interested in him or in other English players,” the City manager said. “Regarding what the FA have proposed I think it is important for big clubs to bring in the best players, that is the most important thing. If they [an increased English quota] are good players then of course I agree with the idea. We need good players. All the big teams do but the Premier League especially needs the best players to play.”

Pellegrini can be excused to an extent for short-termism. He may not even be at City next season, let alone three or four years down the line should Dyke’s plans come to fruition, and in many ways he represents part of the problem the FA is trying to address. Pellegrini was not hired to help England win a World Cup or boost the number of English-qualified players performing in the Premier League, his brief was simply to make City successful and keep the trophies rolling in. Given that the probability of the club finishing empty-handed this season has already led to speculation he may be dismissed in the summer, and even if he gets a third year it is likely he will have to win the Premier League or reach a Champions League final to convince City’s owners he is the man for the job, it is hardly surprising Pellegrini is chiefly interested in ready-made rather than home-produced talent.

Not that the City manager is about to discuss transfer budgets or summer targets. “We are not talking about next season, nothing beyond the next game at Crystal Palace,” he said. “This club has put a lot of money into the academy because young players are important but if we are talking about the academy we must be patient. It is not always easy for young players to come through in big teams. I am sure in the future we will have important players who have come through the academy but it might take years of working in the same way. Although with footballers you never know. Maybe some talented players can come through more quickly.”

Pellegrini has no injury problems after the international break, is relaxed about Yaya Touré playing twice for the Ivory Coast in spite of the achilles injury that kept him out of the last league game, and said he would like City to win their remaining eight Premier League games to keep up the pressure on Chelsea. “That is easy to say but not so easy to do. I always expect to win all the games, from the beginning of the season to the end. I know that is not the way it will work out but you need to have that mentality as a big team. With a team like this there is a demand on you to win every game but you can only do it one game at a time and for now our focus is wholly on Crystal Palace.”


By Paul Wilson / Guardian