They wonder privately at Manchester City if it will prove to be their “Ryan Giggs moment”. Giggs, of course, began his career at City but ended up joining Manchester United on his 14th birthday and the rest, as they say, is history.

James McAtee has a long way to go to reach that level and the pathway is strewn with pitfalls but, less than two years after swapping red for the blue of Manchester, this fleet-footed No 10 has become one of Europe’s most talked about young talents and a shining light at City’s burgeoning academy.

McAtee will not be involved in the first leg of City’s FA Youth Cup final against Chelsea on Friday evening, when the under-18 sides from both clubs meet at this stage of the competition for the second successive season. He is not 14 until later this year, after all. But he is one of a posse of players hardening opinion at City that, in time, their rich investment in youth could ultimately spawn a generation of youngsters that is not flattered by comparisons with the Barcelona, Ajax and United movements of the recent and more distant past.