A great club never stands still and
Manchester City are constantly preparing for the future. The club's academy set-up is one of the best in the country and the top leagues in Europe are littered with stars who were developed at City. Yesterday was another huge day for the academy as City's U18s faced Bristol City with a place in the FA Youth Cup final up for grabs. Here's a look at how they got on along with the latest news from City's academy. ALSO READ: Guardiola shuts down Roy Keane over Erling Haaland criticism ALSO READ: Pep Guardiola's sarcastic response to Jack Grealish chat critics Super sub Ashton Muir was the hero for City as the Blues secured their place in the FA Youth Cup final on Tuesday night. It was a tough battle at the Joie Stadium and the game looked to be heading for extra time with the scores locked at 0-0 with just 10 minutes to play. However, second-half substitute Muir made the difference in the closing stages, firing home from close range to secure a spot in the final. City will face Leeds or Millwall at home in the final. The two teams face each other on Thursday. Crazy level The Youth Cup is one of the best markers for success in academies, although the biggest one remains progression to the first team. City used to aim for four or five in a team going on to have good careers and with the recent trend all of these players will have plenty of interested parties watching their progress. City had a team that didn't win the Youth Cup that included Phil Foden, Brahim Diaz, Jadon Sancho and Lukas Nmecha so that shows how difficult the competition can be. Not everyone from that team has made it, but those four have all successfully made the leap to playing at the top level. Nmecha has struggled with injuries over the past two years but is in the Bundesliga at Wolfsburg with his younger brother Felix at Dortmund. As part of a series of a growing number of academy graduates who have made their way in the game, Nmecha has given some advice on how to cope in the City academy. "Some players in our Youth Cup team don't play
Football now and some are playing at a crazy level. So in the moment, just work hard and enjoy it but don't take your foot off the gas either," he said. "Even if you have done well, because there are people who have and still not [made it as a professional] and there are people you think won't make it and they've gone on to have good careers as well."