Palmer, Lavia, Maresca and now Delap: Chelsea’s focus on the incredible Man City youth team of 2020/21 | OneFootball

Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad won the 2020/21 Premier League 2 at a canter, beating Chelsea by a whopping 14 points to win the title.

But now it is Chelsea who have turned to that City youth team as a big focus of their future. The now Blues boss Enzo Maresca was in charge of the City youth squad that season, and is set to add Liam Delap to the growing list of former City youngsters now at Chelsea, which also includes Delap’s former team-mates Cole Palmer and Romeo Lavia…

Liam Delap

The big story from that 2020/21 season was soon-to-be Chelsea striker Delap. He netted 24 times and was comfortably top scorer that season. His performances earned him his first-team debut in a 2–1 home win against AFC Bournemouth in the EFL Cup, scoring his first senior goal in the 18th minute.

He made his Premier League debut three days later against Leicester City. After a few loan spells in subsequent seasons, he joined newly promoted Ipswich Town in the summer of 2024. His powerful and direct playstyle has earned many suitors, with Chelsea seemingly winning the race to sign him…

Cole Palmer

Of course, the most well-known member of the that team was Cole Palmer, who has become one of England’s brightest young stars. He was second top scorer to Delap in that 2020/21 season with 13 goals. He was a bit more of a regular for City than Delap, making a handful of appearances both in the league and cup competitions.

His big break came when he moved to Chelsea in 2023, highlighted by his Young Player of the Season award, as well as scoring in the final of the European Championships with England.

Romeo Lavia

A youth product of Anderlecht, Lavia joined Manchester City’s youth team in 2020 after being scouted by Pep Guardiola at the KDB Cup, a youth competition run by the legendary midfielder Kevin De Bruyne.

Despite performing well in the Premier League 2, Lavia never appeared in the top flight for the Cityzens, his only senior appearances coming in the domestic cups. He moved to Southampton in 2022 and impressed despite the club being relegated to the Championship. He was so promising in fact that he joined Chelsea for £53 million after just one season for the Saints. He has done well for Chelsea when he has played, despite being plagued by injury problems.

Several of City’s youngsters have moved on to Chelsea, whose youth movement seems to allow a few more chances for less established pros. Amazingly, on May 8, 2021, Manchester City U23 beat Tottenham U23 6-1, with a hat-trick from Delap, a brace from Palmer and Lavia’s first goal for the youth team. Chelsea’s present and future is Manchester City’s past.

The other stars

Although the Chelsea connections end there, the talent pipeline from that City side does not. James McAtee and Tommy Doyle were the top assisters in that season with 12 and 11 respectively. Both players went out on loan to Sheffield United together in 2022, with Doyle joining Wolverhampton Wanderers permanently in 2024.

McAtee is one of the few academy prospects who remains with Manchester City. He has been effective when he has played, with last season being his best and a hat-trick against Salford in the FA Cup perhaps being the highlight. Despite this, there are doubts about his future with the club having struggled to nail down a consistent starting place.

James Trafford was also part of that side, and is now at Burnley having helped them win promotion back to the Premier League.

With such talent being rife throughout their youth team four years ago, City fans may be irked that more of that talent was not able to break through and establish themselves in the first team, especially since they have invested heavily in recent transfer markets.

Perhaps being so successful and in constant high-pressure environments stunted their ability to take chances. Guardiola’s willingness this season to give minutes to players such as Rico Lewis and Nico O’Reilly may indicate that they will be more eager to utilise what has become one of the best youth academies in the world.

Either way, the Manchester City Elite Development Squad from 2020/21 will go down as one of the most productive of all time and it’s impact may be the genesis for Chelsea’s success, rather than Manchester City’s, for years to come.