Manchester City announce 2024/25 Academy End-of-Season Award Winners | OneFootball

Five Manchester City academy stars have been felicitated at the 2024-25 end-of-season awards that reward the best and highest-performing young prospects amongst the club’s youth ranks.

The academy has been a source of talent for the first-team under Pep Guardiola, with Phil Foden the best example as someone who has learnt his trade after years of training with the first-team before he was phased into the playing squad in the 2017-18 season.

Foden has also seen the likes of Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb cement themselves as first-team stars in recent years, with James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly breaking through this season following stellar performances in a season where City and Guardiola have needed all hands on deck.

It remains to be seen what the summer transfer window holds of the aforementioned pair, with McAtee attracting interest from Bayer Leverkusen and several other clubs in Europe chasing the 22-year-old attacking midfielder’s signature as the season comes to a close.

O’Reilly has been one of the first names on the teamsheet for Guardiola in recent months after an impressive line of displays in the FA Cup saw the midfielder operate as a makeshift left-back for Guardiola, who has seen the teenager score a series of crucial goals since March.

McAtee has been handed a new lease of life under Guardiola in the second half of the season but was left out of the matchday squad for Manchester City’s 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final last weekend, which says it all in terms of how highly he is rated by the Manchester City manager.

Bobb has endured a frustrating campaign after a series of recurring injuries that have kept him out nearly entirely for the season. The Norwegian spent the first half of the campaign recovering from a leg break sustained in the days after Manchester City’s Community Shield victory over Manchester United in August 2024.

Since briefly returning to full fitness in February, Bobb has suffered further ankle and hamstring setbacks to derail his progress and though he is fit to play as things stand, it can be understood why Guardiola is hesitant to call upon the forward in Manchester City’s run-in.

Foden, the Manchester City academy starboy, has suffered criticism for his lacklustre displays this season – a year on from his best campaign in a sky blue jersey when he led his boyhood club to a fourth successive Premier League title and was named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year.

However, this season has once again seen an array of Manchester City U-18 and Elite Development Squad (EDS) sides showcase their talent and as a result, five young Blues have been felicitated for their displays through the campaign.

Matty Warhurst, Reigan Heskey, Divine Mukasa, Max Alleyne and Charlie Gray have picked up individual prizes at the annual Academy End of Season awards.

Warhurst was awarded Scholar of the Season; Heskey was named the U-18 Player of the Season; Mukasa was named the Players’ Player of the Season; Alleyne was awarded the EDS Player of the Season; Gray was the recipient of EDS Players’ Player of the Season award.