Guardiola's Divine intervention has sent message to the Academy kids

A STRANGE summer for City has had a knock-on effect for its young players.

- By SIMON BAJKOWSKI

Normally the preseason tour would be a good chance to give a handful of promising academy players the chance to spend a few weeks in the first team environment and see if they can impress Pep Guardiola in friendlies and in matches.

That has been the way for Rico Lewis and Nico O'Reilly to get onto the manager's radar in recent seasons. City didn’t have a preseason tour though because they were at the Club World Cup, FIFA’s revamped moneymaking tournament where each round had the potential to significantly add to a club’s budget