Manchester City managed Pep Guardiola has won everything there is to win during his eight years at the club - and one academy graduate has highlighted how young players are able to develop rapidly under the Catalan manager.
Since arriving at Manchester City, Phil Foden and Rico Lewis have all emerged from the academy and developed under Guardiola's tutelage, though a number of other players have displayed their talents elsewhere in the Premier League.
Cole Palmer is the most obvious example, though Taylor Harwood-Bellis is another youngster who has emerged as a highly-rated defender at Southampton.
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Harwood-Bellis emerged from the same Stockport Metro Junior League that produced Phil Foden and followed him to Manchester City, before making his debut under Pep Guardiola in a League Cup tie at Preston in 2019, aged 17.
Loan spells at Blackburn Rovers, Anderlecht, Stoke, Burnley and Southampton - prior to his permanent move to the Saints in the summer - all followed, but Harwood-Bellis has described the influence Guardiola has had on his career despite the time he spent away from the club.
“That [debut] gave me a lot of confidence,” Harwood-Bellis exclusively tells FourFourTwo.
“I only had a short time under Pep but I learned the calmness to play, and tactical knowledge. There are other ways to beat teams – not just kicking it as far as you can, but having the courage to play football.”
The loan spell at Burnley in 2022/23, where he earned promotion to the Premier League playing attractive football under Vincent Kompany is where Harwood-Bellis truly flourished. The English defender admits, however, that he initially wanted to return to the Clarets for last term, instead of heading back to the Championship to play for Southampton.
“I’m not going to lie: I wanted to go back to Burnley,” Harwood-Bellis recalls. “But later in the window, I found out it wasn’t going to happen. I explored other options and I didn’t want to turn down Southampton, because of the size of the club. It was a chance to get another promotion, and after speaking to the gaffer, it was a no-brainer.”
Arriving on another season-long loan, Harwood-Bellis secured that second successive promotion. “Not many people have done that, so it’s something to look back on and be proud of,” he says. “I have learned a lot from the gaffer here. He tells me what I’m doing well and what I need to do better. I’ve still got more to learn.”
As part of the deal agreed last summer, Southampton would make the loan move permanent for a £20m fee if they returned to the Premier League. “It couldn’t have gone more perfectly,” Harwood-Bellis says. “This was what I set out to do: to get my Premier League move, at a club I love playing for. This is where I see my long-term future. Every kid wants to play in the best league in the world – now I’ve got to stay there.”
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