Man City biggest England win this week came 1600 miles from Wembley

Manchester City saw John Stones play for England on Thursday night but there were other success stories elsewhere

Goodness knows why the tens of thousands who had paid through the nose for tickets did not scream their lungs out for every minutes of England's one-sided victory over Wales, but Thomas Tuchel had plenty to be happy with otherwise. The drama around him leaving star players out of his squad was quickly forgotten as the team he did pick pummelled Wales in the opening 20 minutes.

Manchester City would rather have Phil Foden have been included, and would rather Nico O'Reilly made it onto the pitch after his first call-up following the Brentford game. They will have taken satisfaction from John Stones playing and escaping without an injury, particularly after that dicey moment where he went down and looked to be in pain.

City's biggest England win of the week though came not at Wembley but about 1600 miles away. It was in the Zimbru Stadium in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau where Lee Carsley's England Under-21s picked up a healthy 4-0 win.

Rico Lewis scored in an encouraging display for him after falling out of favour with Guardiola in the early months of the season, while young forward Divin Mubama bagged two. Mubama has had a decent start to life on loan at Stoke, where City will be keeping an eye on him.

With Chelsea winger Jamie Gittens getting the opener after his £48.5m move from Dortmund in the summer transfer window, all three goalscorers - as well as the coach - have been developed in at least some of their career in City's academy.

Gittens spent a few years at the club, Mubama had already made his West Ham debut when he was signed last year but played most of his minutes for the Under-21s, and Lewis is a lifer at the Etihad.

Just as they like to be represented at senior level, City like to know they have some of the most promising English talent on their books. Lewis has taken the path to Pep Guardiola's first team, but even if not all can follow it bodes well for City's recruitment and their coaching to have so many links in the England youth set-up.

The same can be said for the senior team. James Trafford, O'Reilly and Stones are the City contingent in the most recent squad, but Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer have also flourished for the Three Lions after moving on from the Etihad.

Homegrown talent has become particularly important in the English game as a result of the spending rules brought in by the Premier League to protect teams.

City have made hundreds of millions of pounds in recent years from selling academy players, as well as bringing Lewis, O'Reilly, Oscar Bobb and others through into their first team.

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