Premier League leaders Manchester City highlighted their summer business when they secured a deal for River Plate’s 21-year-old Argentine starlet Julián Álvarez for £15million before the conclusion of the January window.

Though the attacking prodigy remains on loan in Argentina for the remainder of the season and is not set to be brought into the first-team fold under Pep Guardiola until preparations for the 2022-23 campaign begin over the summer, the feeling remains that the club finally has secured their long-term replacement for club legend Sergio Agüero. But City also completed a deal for another bright young talent, one that most will have never heard of; Zalán Vancsa.

The 17-year-old Hungarian wonderkid only recently rose to prominence across the continent after he became the youngest player to score in the Hungarian top flight for MTK Budapest in the last 100-years, and the sixth-youngest to ever achieve that feat in the history of the league while surpassing the great Ferenc Puskás in the process. Did I mention that he did so on his professional debut before his seventeenth birthday while coming off the bench?

After staring for club and country at youth levels, Vancsa caught the eye of many top clubs around Europe but it was Manchester City that pounced to secure his services this month before shipping him back to MTK for the remainder of the season.

How has he got on in the wake of his massive move? Scoring a brace in his debut for the Hungarian U19 side. It was yet another moment where the gifted youngster announced himself to the next level of his natural progression with a bang, and despite all of the financial muscle that City can bring to bear, the club still surveys the globe for young talents that they can either build through or use to pad their coffers.

Manchester City to rely on foreign link for another youngster

As part of City Football Group, Manchester City is unquestionably the flagship club of what is an ever-increasing football presence that is touching all corners of the globe. But City is just one part of the wheel, with other clubs serving a vital role in establishing the Group’s footprint.

With subsidiary clubs in Australia (Melbourne City), Uruguay (Montevideo City Torque), Belgium (Lommel S.K.), The United States (NYCFC), India (Mumbai City), Spain (Girona FC), China (Sichuan Jiuniu FC), Japan (Yokohama F. Marinos), and France (Troyes AC), five of the seven continents around the globe have a City presence for both economic expansion as well as footballing development.

In the case of Lommel, a small city in the Belgian region of Limburg, the club (which is less than 20-years-old) has already offered a credible proving ground for other young Manchester City talents including Daniel Arzani, Marlos Moreno, Diego Rosa, and a host of other names now headlined by Brazilian midfielder Vinícius Souza.

New Manchester City starlet nets brace in U19 international debut as loan offers key developmental platform

Gent’s Sven Kums and Mechelen’s Vinicius Souza pictured during a soccer match between KV Mechelen and KAA Gent, Wednesday 15 December 2021 in Mechelen, on day 19 of the 2021-2022 ‘Jupiler Pro League’ first division of the Belgian championship. BELGA PHOTO DAVID PINTENS (Photo by DAVID PINTENS/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)

Souza took the world by storm during his spell at Lommel before securing a loan move to Jupiler Pro outfit KV Mechelen to replace Belgian starlet Aster Vranxck who departed for VfL Wolfsburg. Souza made fans forget rather quickly about Vrancks despite how good the young Belgian is, with the Brazilian midfielder being arguably the top holding midfielder’s in the league this season for De Kakkers.

That connection with Lommel could certainly prove vital again when it comes to Vancsa who will be able to develop in a nation that is one of the top youth production pipelines in Europe and without the additive pressure of other environments. If Vancsa develops as well as Souza has, City will certainly be sitting pretty for years to come.