Thomas Kruecken is a man on a mission: to make Manchester City’s academy the best in the world and, in the process, potentially save the English champions hundreds of millions in transfer fees.
It is an odyssey that began a quarter of a century ago and recently resumed after a 23-year hiatus.
Kruecken, then head of academy at VfB Stuttgart in the German Bundesliga, underwent five months of interviews and beat off a shortlist of 20 candidates to land his dream role as the boss at a workplace he refers to as the "University of Football".
The stakes are high for Kruecken and his staff. Their Key Performance Indicators include producing talent that can slot into one of the best teams on the planet and making money through sales that can be ploughed back into the first team and the academy.
So far so good. Phil Foden, Oscar Bobb, Rico Lewis and more recently Nico O’Reilly have all become fixtures in Pep Guardiola’s squad and the sales of homegrown products Cole Palmer, Liam Delap and a host of others have yielded in excess of £170 million over the past three years.
Speaking in his office in the City Football Academy, just down the hall from Guardiola's, 47-year-old, German-born Kruecken is fully aware of what is expected and an unapologetic evangelist for individual development within a team framework.
His philosophy is simple. He wants every single one of his charges to reach their full potential, wherever that might lie, and he wants to win football matches and trophies along the way.
The methods he and his staff employ to guide, cajole and nurture young footballers to their maximum capability are, however, less prescriptive.
For instance, a youngster under the age of 15 is as likely to be seen practising taekwondo, bouncing a basketball around a court or learning gymnastics as they are kicking and heading a football. And if Kruecken has his way then boxing will soon be added to that portfolio of cross-sports.
According to recent research fewer than 1 per cent of academy players make it to a professional standard and that drops to half that amount when dealing with the under nine category. Studies show that of 1.5 million boys playing organised youth football only 180 make it to the top level.
It’s a sobering statistic but one that Kruecken embraces as he embeds his future-proofing policies at City.
“When I got the job I think the hierarchy here liked my passion for player development. I believe that individual player development is the key for the future,” he said.
“When I see how Pep works to develop players – and Rodri would be the prime example I guess – it is not just about team training it’s about the specific needs of each single individual.
“It’s about honing ideas on methodology, predicting how football will look and be played in the future and then bringing people together along on the journey.
“It’s not about me; the role is about creating room for great ideas, for players, coaches and staff members to flourish. We have many experts in this club and this football group who have more knowledge and expertise in specific areas than me.
“My role is to bring the best ideas together and make them work. I want everyone to shine or at least have the chance to shine. To bring their ideas to the table. We want to create something great.
“We have to have a clear picture of what we think comes next and then apply it to the current situation. That applies to training, to knowledge transfer, technology, and decision making.
"We also have to prepare the staff to impart the information to the players. Our vision is to be the best academy in the world and to develop an environment that enables that.”
Kruecken first encountered City at the turn of the century as an under 10s coach. Back then, Joe Royle was manager, Jim Cassell was Academy chief and facilities were far more rudimentary than they are today.
“We were at Platt Lane, close to Maine Road. We had two pitches, an astroturf pitch and a small dome all shared with the first team but still developed players for the Premier League,” he recalled.
“Now we have everything we need to develop players to the top level. There are no excuses. We have many more departments.
"All our rivals have similar setups so the important thing is how we use our resources. It’s not just about getting more stuff, it is about determining the specific needs we have to help us develop individual players.
“We know that 10-year-old boys have a concentration rate of around six to 10 seconds – that’s what a university professor told us – what does that mean for our training methods?
“The answer is live feedback. We have to have more live feedback and involve them more in understanding the game so they can make better decisions on the pitch so we will probably end up with more screens around the pitches so coaches can deliver more live feedback on the pitch.
"The coaches then have to learn how to best deliver that feedback, to ask the correct questions, to talk less and leave the players to think more.
“It’s an exciting job making sure the daily work is great and that everybody is comfortable and working hard and then, on the other side, there is forward thinking and planning.
“I need to push both but at the end of the day the most important thing is the people. When people come in here with a smile on their face and a motivation to work for this football club then I am happy.
“We have to have the culture of learning from mistakes, of collaboration and communication. We all have to be seeking the best ways to get the most out of the players and each other.
“When I was first here 25 years ago the people made me feel welcome and part of the club very quickly. That's the culture we still have here. Standards and behaviours are so important. I am proud to be here.”
To that end Kruecken has imposed some rules that he expects everyone to follow.
“Little things are important when it comes to culture,” he emphasises. “It may seem a small thing but in the last 12 months we have reduced the number of lost and missing footballs by 50 per cent.
"It’s a small thing that has a big impact. Each football costs around £70 so as a player you should look after the football. You must bring it back.
“No mobile phones are allowed in the canteen. That is the place to talk, to have conversations, share thoughts and feelings and not to sit playing on the phone. No mobile phones in the gym either. That is a work area.
“Keep everything clean, be polite to everyone in the building, the cleaners, the kitchen staff, everyone. We must be respectful of others’ jobs. Pep has said this before but better humans generally make better players.
“We put a lot of emphasis on character and personality. Especially when we are recruiting.
“This is the 'University of Football'. We want to make sure that everyone who is in the City Football Academy can fulfill their potential wherever that ceiling may be. We need to make sure people are the best version of themselves.
Man City Academy chief
“That may be on the education side getting their A levels because school is very important, or it may be becoming a League Two or League One player which is great because it is their upper limit.
“Obviously the main dream is to be a Premier League player for Manchester City but we focus on every single player – they all develop at different speeds – so we just make sure we support them in every way we can as human beings.
“Also we want to win things, we are Manchester City. We won the FA Youth Cup last season and we would like to do it again this season. We want players to get that winning feeling.
“Of course it is more important that we develop the next generation of Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer but we also want to win because more top league players come out of winning teams than losing ones.
"It is an indicator of quality and to perform under pressure is a part of a player’s talent. It is about improving individuals so that the team results take care of themselves.”
In this season’s winter transfer window, City spent more than any other team, recruiting players not much older than some of those in their academy.
In came defenders Vitor Reis (aged 19), Abdukodir Khusanov (20), and they will, eventually, be supplemented by attacking midfielder Claudio Echeverri (19).
Kruecken does not see the splurge on young talent as a sign of weakness in the Academy.
“When Pep signs players from other clubs who are not much older than academy players then it is just part of the reality of the business,” he said.
“It doesn’t deflate anyone at the academy. It happens all over the planet at football clubs and for us it is a motivation to ask what can we do even better to make the decision between an external or internal player more difficult.
"Our players have plenty of opportunity to show Pep their level because they are so involved with first-team training.
“We have a common view of what the future player will look like. Physical, psyche, social, and football are the criterias for us. It’s our common idea drawn from more than 100 people at the club, including the first-team building.
“What we can be sure of is the speed of the game keeps increasing, as does the tactical flexibility. Pep has changed the game in Spain, in Germany – which I saw first hand – and now in England. He is a genius.
“The level of our first team is exceptionally high but players from here can go on and be successful at a top level in other big leagues around Europe or the Championship in England.
“We care a lot about players developing off the pitch. In our individual programme we deliver 42 different sessions weekly for the players. Delivered by 26 different staff members from seven departments. We make sure every single player from 15 years old onwards gets their own specific programme.
“At the younger age we have the multi-sport programme where we have introduced taekwondo which is great fun, basketball, and gymnastics.
“Taekwondo helps with agility and decision making and winning duels. It is about body language too, which is important.
"Basketball helps with tactical movement and gymnastics again help agility and movement. We are going to introduce boxing, too, down the line. It will help mentality and body language and again it's about winning duels and boosting self confidence.
“We have a very close relationship with the first team. Our players train every day with the first team and we support them as much as we can.
"It is great for our players to be on the training pitch under the eye of the best manager in the world. We have the chance to take a look inside his ideas on tactical flexibility and develop players on those lines.”
