Man City U21 coach Barry-Murphy: Bobb an ideal example

Manchester City's Elite Development Squad can look to Oscar Bobb as a great example.

That is the view of their coach Brian Barry-Murphy, who spoke after their 2-1 loss to Manchester United's U21s.

While Barry-Murphy would have preferred to beat their rivals, he believes the long-term goal is to get players first team ready.

"I think it helps them because it gives them an insight into what it takes to perform at that level every single week," he stated, per the Manchester Evening News.

"Those guys have the mentality and it has to be seen to be believed.

"The role models in the first team are clear and I would say more than anything else, it shows how much they obsess about training, it's incredible to watch and our lads can't fail to pick up on that and be hungry to try to mirror that in any way they can.

"I think you see a realization in the players about how hard they have to work. I don't think it's automatic and we've seen a lot of really positive examples of it and some will think it happens naturally and it doesn't.

"So it's important and if you use Oscar Bobb as a reference, he trained with the first team a lot, came back to us, and is probably the most determined trainer you will see.

He's now shown the fruits of that work and he's probably an outstanding role model in terms of what can be achieved in a short period of time in our team."