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It's been quite a season for Manchester City at academy level.

While the first team were struggling and Manuel Pellegrini's tenure stuttered to an unsatisfactory conclusion, the club's youngsters were enjoying success across the board.

Their under-18s reached their second consecutive FA youth Cup final and were crowned Premier Academy League champions.

The under-15s became Floodlit Cup National Winners. The under-13s are National champions. The under-10s are sweeping all before them, triumphing at the National Futsal Championships and winning the Wormeveer Holand trophy.

There's been plenty of recognition from outside the club, too, with 26 academy players and five EDS stars called up for international duty during the season.

At the same time the club has dramatically increased the number of tournaments they compete in across Europe – an attempt to expose their youngsters to the rigours of tournament football and prepare them for life as a professional footballer.

They're regularly winning them and impressing with the quality of their football. This month, they took part in five different events across Europe, winning four and losing in the final of the other on penalty kicks, and right now the under-13s are taking part in the Americas Cup in San Diego hoping to add to the growing collection of silverware.

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Of course, trophies at this level aren't everything. City are conscious of the fact they need to develop a distinct playing style across every level of the academy that prepares their young players for life in the senior side, with the number who graduate to first-team level a far more accurate measure of an academy's success than silverware.

They want footballers who play an open, attractive style of football, where players want possession and cherish the ball when they have it. Quick passing and movement is key, with the focus firmly on attack. That's how the club's owners want the first team to play, so it's how every young player on the club's books must play, too.

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After a difficult start, that process is gathering pace. Upon opening the club's £200-million academy in December 2014, Brian Marwood promised the academy staff time to deliver their vision - and he's been true to his word.

Initially, results were poor. City's youngsters were regularly getting outplayed - struggling, it seemed, to take on board the new principles being put forward by the academy coaching staff.

It would have been easy to deviate from their plan, to give in to negative results and resort to more restrictive tactics. They didn't and they now appear to be reaping the rewards for their patience. Opposition sides know exactly how City are going to play - but stopping them is becoming increasingly difficult.

Ensuring a player's technical competencies are up to the required standard during the foundation stage of their development is fundamental to the academy's approach. City want to produce players comfortable in possession and who know where and when to play the ball. Players who play operate between the lines and excel in one-on-one situations.

Those central principles are developed at an early stage. The game gets quicker and more physical the older a player gets – but the underlying technical qualities remain the same. A No.6 playing for the under-13s could step up into the under-16s and, although there would be physical differences, he would know where and when to pass the ball to a No. 3 or No. 11.

It's one methodology that runs through the academy and the only way it can work is if every coach, player, analyst and medic buys into it.

And it's clearly becoming embedded in the culture of their academy. Manu Garcia, Tosin Adarabioyo and Cameron Humphreys-Grant – who have all been at City since the age of eight or nine - are perfect examples of the kind of players they want to produce. Indeed, they will surely be under consideration for first-team opportunities under Pep Guardiola next season.

What's perhaps most pleasing to City's academy staff, though, is the number of local youngsters who are part of the set up. Nine of the 11 who started the FA Youth Cup final against Chelsea were from Greater Manchester and around 66 percent of the players enrolled at City's academy are Mancunian.

It's been a remarkable beginning to the CFA's existence. Most clubs would be satisfied with what City have already established but there's a clear desire among the staff at the CFA to guard against complacency and continue striving.

Strong foundations have been laid. Now it's time to really build on them.