Manchester City<\/a>‘s academy chief Mark Allen.<\/p>\nA proposal has been made for a 16-team competition \u2013 dubbed the NextGen tournament \u2013 that will see academies from across Europe competing against each other.<\/p>\n
City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa will be the representatives from England in the first season.<\/p>\n
Celtic are the sole representative from Scotland, and other teams such as Barcelona, Inter and Sporting Lisbon will also participate with more clubs looking to join the set-up in the future.<\/p>\n
Allen believes the tournament will help nurture and improve young talent.<\/p>\n
“The average age for a Premier League debut is becoming older, 21 or 22 when before it might have been 17 or 18,” he told the club’s official website.<\/p>\n
“You have to bridge that gap and prepare them for a better standard of football.<\/p>\n
“We’ll be competing against the best in Europe, a la the Champions League format, and we see it as an important chapter in the development of Manchester City.<\/p>\n
“It’s the next stepping stone, so as they come through the academy system there is the platform for them to be playing football at a level that is commensurate with their development.<\/p>\n
“It will prepare them for those balmy nights we’ll hopefully have in the Champions League as the club moves forward.<\/p>\n
“We want to prepare them for what they will encounter as fully fledged professionals.<\/p>\n
“Who knows, we might be seeing the new Lionel Messi on a Thursday night at Hyde.”<\/p>\n
It means that City will opt out of competing in the Barclays Premier Reserve League as they hope to include a mix of reserves and academy prospects as clubs will be allowed to field three under-20 players in the under-19 games.<\/p>\n
The Blues will also compete in both the Manchester and Lancashire Senior cups as well as some \u201cprestige\u201d friendlies.<\/p>\n
“We found it the reserve league just a little bit too rigid in terms of fixtures,” Allen added.<\/p>\n
“This will allow us the scope for a flexible games programme.<\/p>\n
“We can also take advantage of playing games further afield as we engage more with some of the clubs we have close relations with in Europe and across the UK.”<\/p>\n
But City will have to play in the academy league too as this is a compulsory tournament.<\/p>\n
“It is an individual choice to play in the reserve league but all teams play in the academy league,” a Premier League spokesman told the Press Association<\/em>.<\/p>\n“The NextGen fixtures have to be completed over and above the Premier League Academy season.”<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
More:
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