Manchester City fans here in the Tavern are beyond excited about the prospects of Champions League football returning this week.
It has been an absolute dream start for the City faithful, producing an unbeaten start to the season that’s shown glimpses of recreating the feat of the Arsenal Invincibles. They’ve found themselves on the end of freewheeling goals, an incredibly attacking style of play, and one of the strongest squads in recent memory in the Premier League.
Although they’ve made such an incredible start to the season, they can’t afford to gain a sense of complacency, with a long-winded season still laying in the path ahead.
Having seen a hugely welcomed returned to Premier League football over the weekend, the Citizens continued on their merry way with yet another purely dominant performance to force a 2-0 win against a Leicester side that had been in decent form under their new man Claude Puel.
With no sign of this City side letting up, their next challenge sees a return to European football but comes of low importance to their Champions League campaign, as an already qualified Manchester City side welcome struggling Dutch side Feyenoord to the Etihad.
Indeed, due to the lowered level of importance of this fixture to the club, this could pose the opportunity for a couple of youth prospects to feature in what would prove to be a rare opportunity in Europe.
So having already qualified here are TWO young starlet’s that could feature on Tuesday…
Phil Foden
The 17-year-old starlet has been a feature of the Manchester City youth set up for the duration of his footballing career, impressing the managerial set up in the lower levels of the club for some time now.
But he finally got his chance to prove himself in front of the cameras earlier this year, as a worldwide audience saw the impressive youngster put on a dazzling set of performances throughout the whole course of the U17 World Cup.
Providing 2 goals in the final for a triumphant England side really has been the pinnacle of the already incredible career that this young man has enjoyed. Never looking like giving the ball up, his trickery and fast feet have drawn comparisons to players such as David Silva, which just goes to prove how highly this man is rated at the club.
After helping bring the World Cup home, Phil Foden has earnt himself the limelight to be England’s hottest prospect moving forward.
So having delivered on the highest stage at such a young age, it looks as if he’s done more than enough to earn a first-team chance under Pep Guardiola.
Oleksandr Zinchenko
The 20-year-old has already earned his status as a Ukrainian first-teamer in what has been an incredible couple of years for the youngster.
After joining City back in 2016, the Netherlands has been his home, playing for giants PSV Eindhoven in what is an impressive feat at such a young age.
Due to limited chances in the Manchester City line up, he’s struggled on his way to making 1 start and 1 bench appearance which have both come in cup competitions. However, in the recent 0-0 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Etihad, the Ukrainian posed a constant threat moving forward with his pace and ability to beat his man.
Pep Guardiola has opted to utilise him in a wingback/left back position, where he has the ability to offer you an array of diverse attributes such as; pace, trickery, incredible dribbling, strength and the ability to position himself accordingly.
So with their next fixture being against a Dutch side, the left back will be right at home with the talents of the opposition team should he be called upon.
