Manchester City have a decent record of producing excellent defenders in their academy but very few have made it into the first team. From the days of Kieran Trippier and Ben Mee to Jeremie Frimpong and Taylor Harwood-Bellis, there have been excellent careers - just not necessarily at the Etihad.
Rico Lewis is one that has bucked the trend, and more are hoping to follow him in. This season, Pep Guardiola has given debuts to Kaden Braithwaite and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey in the League cup.
Simpson-Pusey then started games in the Champions League and Premier League for City amid an injury crisis for centre-backs but hasn't seen much action since. Max Alleyne and goalkeepers Spike Brits and Max Hudson have also been involved in squads.
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An FA Cup tie against Championship opposition might normally be seen as a chance for the young academy defenders to play, but instead Guardiola turned to the 19-year-old centre-back that the club bought for £27.5m in January as he rested the 20-year-old centre-back that the club bought for £33m in January.
Even if you progress all the way through City's academy, and even with three senior centre-backs injured, there are no guarantees of making the first team when the club can essentially buy anybody they want.
That does not put off the youngsters coming through though, who spend their seasons constantly trying to outdo the age groups that have gone before them in a bid to stand out. One of those to have already caught Guardiola's eye is Stephen Mfuni, a Wigan-born centre-back who was the youngest player on the pre-season tour last summer at 16.
There, he had the daunting task of marking Erling Haaland every day in training and was rewarded with his efforts by the Norwegian giving him tips on how to play against him. That has helped lead Mfuni to more regular time with the first team squad this season, including from a very hands-on manager.
"He joins in with the session a lot, he gives you information about what you can do," Mfuni told the Manchester Evening News. "He gets on the pitch and shows you from your point of view what you could do in that situation.
"If you get the ball in the corner, he will stand in the corner and show you different options you can do. He compliments you.
"Sometimes he can shout at you but that's good because it's showing you that what you need to do is important. I've been there quite a lot training and Pep has spoken to me and told me a couple of things that I use."
Despite only turning 17 last month, Mfuni has spent more time with the Under-21s than he has with the Under-18s and has also been critical in the teams progressing in the FA Youth Cup and UEFA Youth League.
Ben Wilkinson has moved up to coach the Under-21s this season and believes Mfuni has everything he needs to make it at City if he can work on his game - even if he has to compete with new signings.
"That goes to show the strength of the club. We feel we've got some pretty good ones in our system," Wilkinson told the Manchester Evening News..
"They've done well and had really strong youth careers but making that last step is really challenging and that's our job to keep evolving and finding different ways to challenge them and prepare them so that when they do arrive with the manager they don't come back.
"I had Steph last year with the Under-18s and straightaway saw what a talent he was and the potential he's got. Nothing I've seen this season has surprised me.
"He's got some areas of his game that gravitate towards being a top top player but he's also go stuff to do. What you see here is that someone like Steph I've seen before but the idea of bridging the gap from being a top youth defender to being able to get into the manager's squad and break through into the team is unbelievably difficult.
"He is someone who at his age has a chance of doing that but he's going to have to work incredibly hard and work on the deficiencies in this game so that when he may be able to go there he can prove that he's good enough and really take his chance."
With the first team gunning for the FA Cup and Champions League qualification, opportunities to impress Guardiola in matches between now and the end of the season appear slim. Instead, Mfuni and the rest will have to show what they can do in training, and in the most important youth games.
Wednesday's trip to Hoffenheim in the last 16 of the UEFA Youth League certainly fits the bill - a tough team in alien conditions that are likely to be hostile in a competition where City haven't previously done as well as they should have done.
Win the game and City's youngsters will legitimately be able to claim they have done something the talented age groups above them haven't in a result that will certainly catch the attention of Guardiola and sporting directors Txiki Begiristain and Hugo Viana.
"It's important because in the past we haven't really done well," said Mfuni "We always got ourselves into the situation of the knockouts where we are now but then we get knocked out because we can't deal with the pressure or atmosphere.
"Now we know what to do, we can have a good go and hopefully we go far in the competition. If you want to transition to the first team, you have to deal with moments like this because they have that all the time."
