Travel plans, referee chats and foreign players - Why Man City are embracing Youth League

Manchester City's youngsters are back in UEFA Youth League action on Wednesday as they face Monaco in their first away game of the season

This week's UEFA Youth League assignment in Monaco ticks a lot of boxes for Manchester City's Elite Development Squad head coach Ben Wilkinson, as the young Blues head to the French Riviera.

Wilkinson's side got their campaign off to a winning start two weeks ago, when they beat Napoli 2-0 at the Joie Stadium in their first home game in the competition, but an away trip offers a slightly different test.

That kind of experience is vital for these young players, but this is a competition that has managed to elude City as well, despite their recent academy success at domestic level. Their latest heartbreak was a last-minute defeat to AZ Alkmaar in the quarter-final stage last season.

Despite the pain they have endured, Wilkinson is a big fan of the Youth League, not just for the quality of games on offer but also for the different experiences it brings. This week, that includes travelling to a game abroad and playing foreign opposition.

"It's a top competition, we had a really, really good experience in it last year, and we found especially in the new format, the games you play are all of a real high level," he said.

"For us as staff, looking at where these players could potentially go, these are the kind of environments we want to see them in. The longer you stay in the competition, the better from a developer's point of view in terms of looking at what's in front of you and being able to judge and try and calculate what's next for these guys.

"It's a top competition, it's something different with the environment, the stadiums, travelling, the refs, you know the level of player. It's a competition we really embrace and one that we really want to do as well as we can every year."

City will play Monaco at the Ligue 1 side's impressive new training ground at La Turbie. The pitch has a 280-seat stand that will allow the locals to watch the stars of the future.

The game will be refereed by a team of Danish officials, with Mikkel Redder taking the whistle. In their opening-day win against Napoli, it was a Swedish official. For most of these players, who are used to the way games are controlled in England, it is a totally new experience, and something Wilkinson has discussed with them.

"It’s something we spoke about before," he said. "When we played the first game in this competition last year, we played Inter Milan and it's very similar and we were a little bit naive in that game in terms of the way we reacted to certain situations, referee, opposition, giving free kicks away, penalties, etc.

"So we did reference that. From our point of view, there's no issue with that. If it's officiated differently, it's officiated differently. You just want consistency in the decisions over the 95 minutes."

The Youth League fixtures also offer the chance to encounter different playing styles and tactical ideas. Brexit rules mean there are now fewer foreign players in domestic academies.

"When you're playing, although the competition is formed on the success of the first team, the majority of these teams are the best teams in their country," said Wilkinson.

"So to be able to play best for best, I think most clubs across Europe try and play as strong a side as they can, but most clubs will also have players in this age category who are in and around the first team and so don't play in the games.

It's a top games program and it's one way you're normally quite evenly weighted on age as well which we don't always have so it gives us a lot."