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It’s an open conversation in the Manchester City academy that the end goal is almost impossible.
Considering the amount of youngsters on City’s books, the actual number who play for the first team is a fraction of a fraction.
Luke Bolton is one such academy prospect who got within touching distance of a senior debut – playing for Pep Guardiola’s side in friendlies and even getting on the bench in the Carabao Cup. But that elusive appearance never came, and Bolton always had a suspicion that it might not.
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In fact, he got further than most onlookers might have thought throughout his youth journey at the CFA.
“From a young age I got released and it didn’t really hit me that hard,” he said in 2020. “I’ve always been someone who gets on with it, if they don’t want me, they don’t want me. Then I came back from it but even at City, they’ve always expected me to stumble at the next hurdle.
“A few of the lads when we were 12 got four-year contracts and I think I got a one-year. The next year they reviewed it and said yeah will we give him another. I was always the one they were expecting to not be able to keep up what I was doing and also I’ve had a lot of hamstring injuries.”
Injury was a recurring theme throughout Bolton’s City career. He had loans at Wycombe, Luton and Dundee, all giving him the opportunity to prove both his fitness and his quality. It was his inclusion in the 2018 pre-season tour that saw Bolton’s City career change. On one hand, it was the beginning of the end for the winger at City – on the other it was the start of his next step.
Bolton played three friendlies for City in 2018, including against Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund.
Bolton had featured three times on tour under Guardiola in the USA, before the manager called him into his office back in Manchester for a chat that would change the course of his fledgling career. Having gone to the US as a winger, Bolton was used at right-back instead, with Guardiola advising him to pursue opportunities further back. Bolton didn’t need to argue.
Bolton said: “I played there three times last pre-season with the first team, then Pep spoke to me and thought that’s where I was going to be best, so I just took that advice on board, that’s all I can do really, listen to him.
“He pulled me into his office, we’re speaking, he thanked me for pre-season and then said that’s where he thinks I’m going to be best. So straight away, I said, ‘no problem, that’s where I’ll play.’
“I’ll never argue and say ‘no, I think I’m a winger,’ I’ll take it on board from someone like that as he’s managed a lot of top players as well.”
Bolton did exactly that at Luton, and when it came to being released in 2022, he operated up and down the right flank for Salford City in League Two, under the ownership of Manchester United legends including Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham.
Bolton signed for Salford in 2022 after taking Pep Guardiola’s advice on board.
But despite gripes with various contract decisions over the years, Bolton told BBC Radio Manchester that he had no hard feelings about his his Blues career panned out.
“I really enjoyed my 11 years there,” he said. “I’m 22 years of age. There are people younger than me getting chances, which is fine. City said they’ll push the younger ones over me.
“All the lads are great, they deserve their chances. It’s football, no hard feelings. What’s the point in being jealous? Everyone’s got a bit of jealousy but it’s how you take it. No hard feelings for anyone above me.
“You can only control what you can control. Football’s an opinionated game. One manager loves you, another doesn’t. You’ve just got to hope that you get a run of managers that love you.”
Bolton said he picked Salford as they played a similar way to City, and he made almost 100 appearances for the Ammies before leaving in the summer.
Bolton is now at Wrexham, with his journey to a wing-back almost complete.
A transfer to Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham followed in League One, where Bolton has taken Guardiola’s advice and is operating at both right-back and on the wing.
Bolton’s City journey is probably more reflective of the majority in the academy. His approach to the setbacks and contract decisions – and then his release – is one they should look up to, and he will watch Saturday’s FA Cup clash between two of his former employers with interest, knowing both played crucial roles in his rise back up the divisions.
He may not have made it at City, but that chat with Guardiola looks to have defined his career.