Man City saw Leeds’ Finley Gorman as a generational talent they *had* to invest in — The Athletic 15/11/23

By Phil Hay and Sam Lee

Twitter was where Finley Gorman first gained a profile.

Occasional videos of his slick footwork and supreme balance highlighted the fact that Gorman was out of the ordinary, an academy footballer capable of going viral.

Manchester City, as it happened, had been following him for a long time before the Twitterati took note, a constant presence at Leeds United youth games and routinely on Gorman’s trail. In recent months, Leeds began to feel the 15-year-old slipping away as City prepared to turn a watching brief into a formal offer.

As The Athletic revealed on Monday, an agreement has now been reached for Gorman to join City, pending the completion of formalities and Premier League checks on the deal.

By no means is this the first time City have gone big on an academy signing. Nor is it the first time Leeds have seen the current Champions League holders all over one of their players. But City’s pursuit of Gorman and the cash committed to him shines another light on the way youth recruitment is now working at the top level, and the money involved.

City will commit a seven-figure fee to the Gorman transfer — with an up-front payment Leeds believe to be a British record for a 15-year-old. The contract includes long-term add-ons and incentives which, if the midfielder goes on to fulfil his potential, could earn the Championship club a total sum in excess of £5million ($6.2m).

Gorman was seen at City as the sort of quality young talent they had to sign if the chance arose, on a par with predecessors Jadon Sancho, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Liam Delap. Gorman has obvious skill and Leeds knew what they were losing, but at Elland Road they were pragmatic about the reality of City’s interest.

Despite breaking into Leeds’ under-18 squad already, Gorman was yet to take up a scholarship at Elland Road. He was almost two years short of his 17th birthday — the age at which he could have been presented with professional terms. Once he signalled his intention to leave, the alternative to taking City’s bid was to lose him for compensation at a level below what was being proposed from Manchester.

The years ahead might make the fee look like peanuts, but Leeds have seen instances before of comparatively large sums being paid for teenagers who then fail to blossom fully.

The advantage a club such as City have, and Leeds have been aware of this for a long time, is that selling the Etihad Campus to prospective signings is largely a doddle.

Leeds, historically, have one of the most successful academies in England. In their own way, they are a tempting draw for junior players but they are forever conscious of what is happening an hour’s drive away on the other side of the Pennine Hills. City’s facilities are on a different level to theirs, and inviting Gorman and his family to tour them was a big step in making sure that he took the leap. Liverpool had tracked him, along with Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, but none were quite so set on investing so much money in signing him.

In English terms, City saw Gorman as a generational talent, a prospect they had to bring in.

“For sure, he’s regarded as one of the best in England (for his age),” a scout who had been tracking Gorman told The Athletic, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There’s very little wrong with his game. He’s a top, top talent.”

Gorman, who was 14 when this season started, spent the past few months at under-18 level with Leeds, a mark of his ability and progress. He scored in games against Nottingham Forest and Stoke City. Striker Harry Gray, young brother of Leeds’ 17-year-old first-team midfielder Archie, is another who broke into the club’s under-18s ranks as a 14-year-old, making the point about how productive the academy at Thorp Arch tends to be.

City are likely to put Gorman into their under-16s squad initially, although their plans for individual players are always fluid and rarely based around fixed, short-term targets.

Max Alleyne, an 18-year-old who was signed from Southampton in 2021, has been given time to integrate and settle due to the difference in surroundings. Oscar Bobb, 20, a Norwegian forward who joined from Valerenga in his homeland four years ago and made his senior debut in September, is another City tried not to rush for similar reasons.

They attempt to work out when a player is likely to be first-team-ready but can only draw clearer conclusions once a recruit is through the door. Put bluntly, Gorman is unlikely to make meaningful headlines for a while.

City regard him primarily as a No 10, in the mould of a Cole Palmer or a James McAtee, but plan to test him as an inverted winger and a false nine, in the way that Bernardo Silva is used in several positions by their first team. How quickly City accelerate the plans for Gorman will depend on how well he hits the ground running, but both the money involved and the time spent scouting him show how highly they rate his talent.

As is the case with Pep Guardiola’s senior side, City’s youth teams are heavily possession-based. They dominate the ball and their quality is such that impressing when playing against them is difficult. Gorman stood out more than once in academy fixtures against Leeds, able to shine and show off a technically impressive left foot despite the balance of the matches.

“He’s got a great engine and finding a pass is one of his biggest assets,” said the scout quoted earlier in this article. “Everyone was looking at him. That’s the best way you can put it.”

What pathway there is for him at City remains to be seen.

Phil Foden, Rico Lewis and Palmer have all made an impact at senior level and were signed to City’s junior academy as under-nines. While Foden has flourished and Lewis appears to be on the same path, Palmer left for Chelsea this summer after tiring of his place on the periphery of City’s senior side. City have sold a raft of talented youngsters for big profits over the past two years in particular; the quality of those prospects not in doubt but competition for first-team places at the Etihad always extremely high.

It might be that Gorman’s teenage Twitter highlights come to be regarded as his moment in the sun or that in the end, he reaches the top level with a different club altogether. Equally, it might transpire that in exploiting a window of opportunity, City have got themselves a steal.

Leeds saw the sense in taking the money but would still concede that, in the world of academy development, Gorman is one to watch.