EDS heading in the ‘right direction’, says Wilkinson | OneFootball

Ben Wilkinson says City’s Elite Development Squad are heading in the ‘right direction’ following a promising start to the 2024/25 season.

Having won three of the last four Premier League 2 titles, our youngsters entered the new campaign looking to build on last term’s 16th-place finish.

Although we suffered a narrow defeat to Liverpool on the opening day, we’ve responded excellently since to extinguish the disappointment from the loss on Merseyside.

That started with a draw with Chesterfield in the EFL Trophy before superb PL2 wins over Derby (3-2) and Everton (5-0).

And Wilkinson admitted he anticipated a tough start to the season, but says he’s pleased with the progress his side is starting to make.

“For us as staff, we always knew in that sort of first week a bit of context was probably required,” he explained.

“Going to Liverpool we had six, seven players in the team who hadn’t played 90 minutes yet.

“This last couple of weeks has been like a preseason for us because of the nature of the preseason the players had.

WATCH: Derby 2-3 EDS – Extended highlights

“Albeit we were still disappointed with how we played at Liverpool and there was a lot of room for improvement. I think these first couple of weeks for us could have been tricky because of where we were at.

“So, I think certainly from the second half against Derby, the performance at Chesterfield and the performance against Everton, we’re definitely heading in the right direction.

“We know we have good players and we’re capable of playing good football. But aligning everything I think is the biggest challenge we’ve had.”

After first joining Manchester City as EDS assistant head coach before being named Under-16s lead coach, Wilkinson took charge of our Under-18s in the summer of 2021.

Under his leadership, our youngsters won three straight Premier League North and National titles and lifted the FA Youth Cup in 2024.

After Brian Barry-Murphy’s departure from the EDS dugout this summer, Wilkinson then stepped up to the role after his illustrious spell with the age group below.

And the 37-year-old revealed he's made the transition smoothly with the help of his players.

He added: “[I’ve found the step up] relatively seamless.

“I think the beauty of it is I've worked with every single player in the squad from between one, two to four years.

“From that point of view [it's been] no problem at all. The players know what I want, I know what the players’ strengths and weaknesses are. So [it's been] pretty good.

“Obviously aligning to a new schedule and a new relationships with the Under-18s and first-team, things like that [is new].

"But yeah overall, [it's gone] very well.”