After years of hard work behind the scenes and slow but steady progress, the last few seasons have seen Manchester City's academy finally begin to bear fruit.
Much was made of the lack of academy graduates in City's starting XI in the years that followed the opening of City's £200m academy in 2014. All that money spent, but for what, was the question critics posed.
Three years later Phil Foden made his senior debut for Pep Guardiola's side, but rather than disappear into the ether like so many before him, he embarked on a meteoric rise to become one of the best attackers in the Premier League.
READ MORE: How Jack Grealish can use World Cup to Manchester City's advantage
Now two more City youngsters, Cole Palmer (20) and Rico Lewis (18) are attempting to follow in his footsteps.
Palmer, an attacking midfielder born and raised in Wythenshawe in south Manchester, debuted in autumn 2020. It was the following season that many sat up and took notice, as he scored goals in the League Cup, FA Cup and Champions League. Only injuries and the form of his teammates prevented him from featuring more in the second half of last season.
Have your say on all the big City issues right now in our Big City Forum survey here or below.
Lewis, who grew up in Radcliffe and has been at City since the age of eight, made his senior debut back in August and has featured in five more matches since then. Now a regular feature of matchday squads, the young right-back made headlines - and history - when he became the youngest-ever player to score on his full Champions League debut.
Both are clearly superb talents, and have every chance of becoming first-teams starters just as Foden did. But as was the case with Foden, supporters must be patient and accept that Guardiola is not going to rush their development or place them under unnecessary pressure so early on in their careers.
But rest assured, with the winter World Cup creating fixture congestion and placing international stars under unprecedented strain, the duo will be given plenty of opportunities to play.
Both are decent shouts to feature in City's Carabao Cup tie against Liverpool next month, just four days after the World Cup final. Should City win that they will have a quarter-final tie - as well as an FA Cup third-round fixture - to fit in to their January schedule.
The recent performances of Lewis and Palmer have been so impressive that it would be no surprise to see Guardiola turn to them in the latter stages of league and European games in order to give his starters a rest.
Both Palmer and Lewis are exciting talents in their own rights, but which would you like to see more of when the season resumes next month? You can have your say on that, as well as plenty of other issues, in our Big Man City Forum - click here or take part below.
READ NEXT:
