Speaking at a press conference ahead of the trip to Crystal Palace, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has hinted that Nigerian wonderkid Tom Dele-Bashiru and other outstanding academy players will be promoted to the first team in the future.

Dele-Bashiru is one of the top talents in City’s Football Academy and helped the U18s advance to the quarterfinals of the FA Youth Cup after producing another five-star performance against Southampton on Thursday.

“We have followed them from the beginning. There are three, four, five players who have huge talent for that age and I think will be able to play for this club in the future, ” said Guardiola.

“They play good and we are delighted. Brian Marwood and everyone in the Academy have worked for a long time and do really well. They have worked for a long time with the same idea.”

This season, the 17-year-old Tom Dele-Bashiru has started ten games for the U18s, while he came off the bench in three matches, scoring three goals in the process.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : mancity.com