Man City trio promoted as 12 youngsters sign professional contracts

Manchester City have announced the 12 players that have signed professional contracts with the club for this season

Players who have signed a professional contract at Manchester City pose for a group photo at Manchester City Football Academy

Three Manchester City youngsters have been promoted in the academy as part of professional deals for 12 promising talents. The deals were announced ahead of the new season, with the Under-18s and Under-21s playing their first games on Saturday August 16 and Monday August 18 respectively.

Oliver Tevenan, Leke Drake, Kylan Midwood, Christian Dunbar-McDonald, Stephen Mfuni, Tyrone Samba, Kaden Braithwaite, Ryan McAidoo, Oliver Whatmuff, Max Hudson, Charlie Courtman and Harrison Miles are the 12 who have signed their pro deals with academy director Thomas Krucken.

Whatmuff has already left the club to join Rochdale on loan for the season, where he will look to take his goalkeeping to the next level with his first taste of senior football.

There are also promotions for Braithwaite, McAidoo and Mfuni, who will all play regularly for Ben Wilkinson's Under-21 side this season after progressing through the Under-18s. The rest will start with the Under-18s, although they could move up as the year goes on.

The Under-18s, coached by Oli Reiss for the second year, will be looking to go one better after falling short in two finals. They went on an incredible 27-game winning streak to put them in a position for silverware and topped the U18 Premier League North but lost to Aston Villa in the league final and in the FA Youth Cup final.

City's Under-21s had more success, topping their national league and then defeating Liverpool, United, Arsenal and then Southampton in the knockout stage to be crowned champions for the season. In the UEFA Youth League, the Under-19s reached the quarter-finals - the best performance from the club for seven years.

"We've had consistent and good performances across the whole season," Krucken told the Manchester Evening News in June. "When you realise we lost just four games across the Under-18s and Under-21s in the league it shows the high performance levels of the team and I'm also pleased that we were the youngest team in the Premier League 2 with an average age of 18.7 and we were also the youngest team in the Youth League with 18.2 across Europe.

"This was another achievement to be part of the quarter-finals. In the last couple of years, we were out in the early stages. There is motivation for us to do better next season but we were really proud to make the quarter-final."

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