Manchester City academy head coach Brian Barry-Murphy has detailed how the club plan to utilise three of their brightest youngsters going forward.
City handed a Champions League debut to academy top scorer James McAtee this week, while striker Liam Delap was on the bench after a handful of first-team cameos in February.
If he was fit, Cole Palmer would likely have been involved in the Sporting fixture after being used in the group stages off the bench earlier in the competition. While there are others in the academy who have made the step up to the first team - like Luke Mbete, CJ Egan-Riley, Josh Wilson-Esbrand, Romeo Lavia, Sam Edozie and Kayky - the trio of Delap, Palmer and McAtee are the three most senior youngsters at the club.
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The trio are regulars in first-team training and will drop down to under-23 level to play if they are not needed by Pep Guardiola. Explaining the plan for each player going forward, Elite Development Squad head coach Barry-Murphy told BBC Radio Manchester : "It's a natural process. The players have certain experiences at first-team level, then once all the players are fit or Pep has the strongest team they naturally come to our environment.
"They get that feeling of having to be in their own age bracket. Some of the most significant learning in our environment has been the likes of James McAtee, Cole Palmer, very much seen as first-team players but coming back into our environment and seeing how they interact with our squad is amazing.
"That camaraderie between the groups, despite the size of the club, is something that's blown me away. How we retain that team spirit.
"Working with [Palmer] in a very small part of the season has been amazing. The way he plays and conducts himself. He wants to play the next game, have the next training session. Doesn't care where it is or what's happening. That day [where he played in the Premier League and then Premier League 2] sums him up, he more or less demanded to play in that game.
"Some people were worried about how you react when you drop out of your age group and how you play. It just happens, the way he plays, he scored a hat-trick. You've almost got a role model within the academy - this is what it's like to be a City academy graduate. You play for the first team, recognised by the first-team manager as someone who can contribute for them, then come and play for the academy."
Regarding Delap, who has spent most of the season out with injury before returning this calendar year, Barry-Murphy said his development plan is to keep working hard after his setbacks before pushing on again next season.
"All I can say is how I've found Liam," he said. "I know his father really well from Ireland. He very much is a number nine and relishes that role and wants to be in that role. There's different parts of his game he's looking to improve. He's a brilliant lad, got a great work ethic, and understands there's a lot of work to do to focus on the parts of his game the manager sees as important.
"This season has been tough for him but invaluable in his first major setback in his career. He's back in great shape and getting going now. In the long-term, he's looking to get some consistency with us and put himself in the frame for the first team whenever he can."
McAtee has 21 goals and five assists in 23 academy outings so far this season, while he has six senior outings as well in a breakthrough campaign.
Guardiola said after his 45 minutes in the Champions League: "Macca is quite calm and a guy who is in a good direction. But, yeah he got mins in the second half. He has played previous games. He knows the rhythm. He has the quality but has to understand the position a bit better."
Echoing that assessment, Barry-Murphy explained: "I've heard the comparisons [to David Silva]. James had key areas of his game he wants to develop. That feeling of the manager relaying to him the areas to develop when he was playing for us or the first team. That calibre of training session at first-team level is completely different to training with us so that naturally enhances the progress of players really quickly.
"You're looking for humility of how they go about their business, working extremely hard, there are sides to his game he wouldn't have to develop before. In our environment he's taken on a real leadership role which wouldn't be natural to him, he's quite quiet. He's really taken on mentoring and looking after younger players.
"James has developed that leadership and taking responsibility which reflects in the amount of goals he's scored and assists in every game. Even in the UEFA Youth League and EFL Trophy, he looked ready to show he's involved. He's quite single-minded in he knows what he has to do and he's dedicated to that. He excites you when you watch him play, he makes things happen.
"An interesting one from me, from where I come from, a lot of times we coach players on trying to find space or be in space and he's so good in tight spaces that he wants to be in close contact with the opposition. Which is interesting because there's not loads of players who are at that level that can be really good in tight spaces. And when you're in tight space it naturally attracts more of the opposition and that means there's obviously a lot of space elsewhere.
"And that was interesting for me, I watched that and thought 'maybe buck your ideas up a little bit here Brian and what you're asking James to do'. That sense of skill in tight spaces in the box is very good to see. We're always looking for different areas in each player that are underdeveloped.
"He's pretty well moulded in terms of what he can do. You see the creative side, the goalscoring. I see pretty dynamic, pretty aggressive, pretty powerful.
"Now we're developing the mental side of the game where we respond to setbacks really well, recovering and doing the defensive side of the game which probably isn't as natural to him. He's been doing that a lot better, our job is to develop the players for whenever the manager wants to use them or wherever they go next in their career. It's important that duty to players to give them as many chances as possible."
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