Starring against Man Utd and idolising Pogba, inside the rise of Man City prospect - 'massive potential'

Manchester

When Manchester City youngster Floyd Samba settles down to watch the Blues play Monaco in the Champions League, his eyes might be drawn to the French club.

Paul Pogba is unlikely to feature against the Blues on Wednesday night as he builds up full fitness following a doping ban, but the midfielder may well be in attendance at the Stade Louis II.

Samba, a City midfielder catching the eye in the Academy, grew up idolising Pogba and trying to base his game on a player who, at the time, could lay claim to being one of the best midfielders around.

Samba, now 16, is beginning to carve his own path. He scored twice for City's Under-18s in their 4-2 comeback win over Manchester United at the weekend to extend their perfect league record to five wins from five. The teenager will now turn his attention to a Youth League game in France on Tuesday as City seek to build on their opening 2-0 win over Napoli, a game in which Samba scored the opener.

He produced a dazzling performance on his tournament debut against the Serie A side. One of the youngest players on the pitch was also one of the most imposing.

"My idol is Pogba. Pogba's my favourite player of all time," Samba said speaking to the MEN after that 2-0 win. "Just the way he plays, I try to be as composed as him as well. His quality is top, technique and everything. Tall as well, like me.

"Especially with passing ability, technique, everything is just top, so I look up to him. I always see him online. I follow him, see what he does and I'm happy that he's back as well, so I can look at more highlights of him."

Pogba signed for Monaco in the summer after an 18-month doping ban ended, but he has to build up his fitness before returning to competitive action. If he is at the tail end of his career, Samba's is just beginning.

He has been outstanding for City this season, scoring six goals in five academy games and netting for England Under-17s. He believes this season has gone "much better" than last term, suggesting he "struggled" at times in 2024/25.

But that is an assessment that Elite Development Squad coach Ben Wilkinson disagrees with after Samba juggled his football with his school work last year, and Wilkinson believes that Samba's move into full-time training this year is now beginning to bear fruit.

"I think he's probably a bit hard on himself. Last year he was still at school so you're in a full-time school program, you've got your GCSEs and you're playing in our under-18s. Trying to balance the two is a very difficult act," said Wilkinson.

"He's also growing a lot, connecting with his body, picking up injuries, that sort of thing. I think he's got massive potential, he’s got the physicality and technical ability and when you have those two things, you've got a great chance of being a top player. You can see that from the evidence [against Napoli], the action for the goal was of a really high level, so I think for him now he's just got to build on that.

"He's in the building full-time, we have opportunity then to control everything in his program and working with that physicality, trying to improve it but trying to keep him fit and trying to understand, to go through the possibilities that he's going to have to deal with in terms of that kind of age profile he's at where you do pick things up, and then test him when he needs.

"(Napoli) was probably his biggest test since he's been in the building, I said to him in [the dressing room], there's a moment of magic where he wins us the game but I don't want him to be coming off after 70 minutes with cramp. He's a young player with a lot of potential and hopefully he's on the right track."

Samba is in the City academy with brother Tyrone, the sons of former Premier League centre-back Christopher. The 41-year-old had a fruitful five-year spell with Blackburn Rovers and also played for Queens Park Rangers and Aston Villa.

He couldn't make Floyd's Youth League debut two weeks ago, but was tuning into a live stream of the fixture online and is a regular source of advice to both his sons.

"He’s always giving me guidance because he's been through it all, he’s experienced, he knows everything, so he'll let me know on anything - what's right, what's wrong. It helps me a lot," said Samba.

"Maybe he's a bit harder to please. He always expects the best, so I try to deliver the best and he'll be honest, he'll tell me if it was good or bad."