Manchester City forward faces transfer recall after struggling spell with League Two club | OneFootball

One Manchester City academy prospect is due a return to the Premier League side after struggling to gain professional experience at League Two side Chesterfield.

Will Dickson signed scholarship terms with City in 2021 and scored 19 goals for the club’s Under-18 side which won the league three seasons ago. The 21-year-old was then rewarded with a professional contract at the Etihad Stadium in July 2023. 

As part of one of the greatest academies in the world, Dickson is a forward who hopes to follow a similar path to the likes of Phil Foden and Cole Palmer, who have established eye-catching success at Manchester City and Chelsea respectively. 

The young striker has been on loan at Chesterfield since the end of August but even while scoring one goal and providing a single assist in 13 starts across all competitions, his time at the club has been in doubt as of late.

Dickson’s main highlight came against Newport Country earlier in the season, when he scored a tremendous goal in a 4-1 win, running from inside his own half before cutting inside and finishing low into the back of the net.

But since that contribution, he has found regular minutes hard to come by and his time at the club is due to come to an end on January 5, according to the Derbyshire Times. A conversation is as such likely pending over the player’s next steps, which will most certainly come away from his current club.

The striker has started three times in the EFL Trophy this season but has hardly played in the English fourth tier having not started since the 6-2 hammering at Colchester United in October. 

Born in Liverpool, Dickson is viewed as a versatile striker who has not stopped scoring since he first joined City in 2015. Following his scholarship four years ago, he was promoted to the Elite Development Squad for the 2023/23 season and scored 18 goals from 38 games. 

An injury set the forward back and put his resilience into question at the beginning of the following campaign, but he eventually jostled through and proved to be an important figure in the EDS side. 

That season, Dickson collected five goals from 12 appearances before being sent out on loan for the first time in his career, to Scottish Premiership side Motherwell in January last season. 

He went on to gain valuable experience at the Scottish outfit, making seven appearances although he was often used as a substitute throughout his loan spell – ultimately playing 124 minutes for the club.

Chesterfield could be seen as a step-up in intensity from Motherwell and even though his current loan move is likely to end soon, it is a certainty that another stay will likely provide the striker with more experience to get him used to the highest levels of the game.