City will be keeping track of ace Trafford

USUALLY, a goodbye from City is a goodbye for good. Once you've left, you've left and there has been a whole lot of leaving in recent years.

- DANIEL MURPHY

It's hard to keep track as there are so many, but it feels as though there must be approaching 1,000 players to have passed through the Blues since the academy underwent an 'holistic' revamp in 2013.

The aim was for every player from eight-year-olds onwards to play the same passing style of football to make jumping age groups easier and, ideally, the transition to the senior side as smooth as possible.

A decade later and results of that labour are bearing fruit. Thanks to the success of headliners Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho as well as the legion of former Blues across all four top English divisions and increasingly Europe, being a young player in the City academy is now seen as a guarantee of quality.

If you sign a player from the EDS you know at the very least you are bringing in a versatile, intelligent and well-raised professional who is excellent in possession and has the potential for greatness. For that pedigree, you pay a premium but there is always the possibility of spinning a massive profit.

Borussia Dortmund sold Sancho for over 10 times the £8m they spent on a 17-year-old with no first-team experience. Many have scoffed at Southampton for throwing more than £40m at City last summer to sign four players, but they are set to make all that back and more by selling just one. No wonder they're coming back again, this time for the highly-rated Shea Charles.