Manchester City's Under-19s secured a vital 2-1 UEFA Youth League victory over RB Leipzig, while the Under-21s beat Burnley 2-1 last weekend. Elsewhere, goalkeeper Jack Wint continues to impress on loan at Kidderminster Harriers ahead of their FA Cup first-round tie with Doncaster Rovers.
Maresca watches Under-18s
First-team manager Enzo Maresca was spotted at a City Football Academy pitch last week to watch the Under-18s, accompanied by sporting director Hugo Viana. Maresca later included youngster Dexter Oliver in his squad and started Floyd Samba for the Carabao Cup tie with Brighton, but chose to attend the youth match in person.
Academy staff and parents have been impressed with the attention given to players by Maresca and his team, with Willy Caballero often present at matches to report back and Danny Walker also involved. Three players were permanently promoted at the start of the year, and Maresca has offered other opportunities in training to young players.
City caught Maresca on their live feed and shared his picture on social media channels, making the point publicly, though those in attendance felt it was anything but an empty gesture.
Wint's loan progress
Jack Wint, 20, is making a fine impression at National League club Kidderminster Harriers, where he is first choice goalkeeper. He joined the non-league side on loan in the summer and will face Doncaster Rovers in the FA Cup first round this afternoon, with Harriers eyeing an upset.
Wint joined City at under-nine level and moved to Kidderminster determined to play first-team football this season. Sources say he has impressed staff with his attitude and application, and teammates have been impressed with how grounded and focused he is. Kidderminster are part-time, so Wint still does the majority of his training at City and is a regular in the first-team group as well as training with the academy squad.
City are pleased with his progress, drawing parallels with Oliver Whatmuff, who spent last season on loan at Rochdale in the National League, helping them to promotion, and has since stepped up to League One with Stockport County. Wint, part of City's open training sessions ahead of Champions League games, signed his first professional contract two years ago and was in Enzo Maresca's squad for the pre-season tour of Asia this summer.
Gritty wins for youth sides
Both the Under-18s and Under-19s were involved in gritty wins over the last week. Lauris Coggin's side were cruising at 2-0 against Burnley in the second half but conceded a goal and saw a man sent off with 20 minutes to go. The young Blues took the ball to the corner flags in the final minutes and celebrated every throw and corner won as if it were a goal, extending their perfect start in the Under-18 league to eight wins from eight.
The Under-19s also had nerves jangling as they held on in Leipzig at 2-1 in a must-win UEFA Youth League game. Three winless games in the competition have affected the players, but Reiss hopes the manner of this victory can spur them on to get the points they need from matches with Napoli and Barcelona.
"Of course I would prefer to win this game more comfortably but at the end the desire of defending to protect the goal and the box, sometimes emotionally you can get more out of a win like this compared to an easy win. We have to use this exactly like this," Reiss told the Manchester Evening News.
"It was important for us to win a game. You could see in the way a lot of moments - passing, build-up - that we are not in a place with high self-confidence at the moment. It's normal after the last games, so we were going long and straight, sometimes too early, and were not brave enough."
"I don't want to say it was poor but it was not 100 per cent our style. For 70 or 80 percent of the game I was really happy with the performance - we should score earlier and more - but at the end it was expected and tough because we knew they would go until the 90th minute and this was the game at the end."
"It's all-in now. We knew before this game it was important and we knew it would not be easy against them away but now at home against Napoli and going to Spain, why not six points?"
