After defeating AFC Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup, Pep Guardiola revealed that Liam Delap will continue be a part of the first-team, as per Manchester City’s official website.
The Citizens took on the Cherries in the third round of the Cup on Thursday, and emerged as 2-1 winners. In a heavily changed side, the young forward was instrumental in guiding the club to victory. He both opened the scoring and proved to be a danger throughout.
Delap was making his senior team debut as Gabriel Jesus was rested. After the game, the manager was quick to outline the future of the 17-year-old. With injury problems affecting the squad, Guardiola mentioned that they only had 13 players in total in the squad, so help was needed from the youth academy.
In attack, the injury suffered by Sergio Aguero means that Jesus is the only recognized fit striker and keeping that in mind, the boss was asked if the talented youngster would have a role to play moving forward. This is what Guardiola said to the City website:
“With the situation we have right now, we have just 13 players, so we need players from the academy.
“With the problems we have up front he will stay with us. We will use him. We congratulate the academy. I am the last step, but before there are a lot of people in the club working for this and it is a big success for them.”
The English youngster was one of the many Academy graduates that took to the field on Thursday. Though the match was tougher than he would have liked, the boss will be happy with the way his team coped with this pressure.
A good mix of young talents, working with experienced players such as Riyad Mahrez and Kyle Walker proved to be the difference. With this win, the Sky Blues advanced to the fourth round where they will take on Premier League side Burnley.
But now, the focus will be shifting back towards the Premier League. Based on this performance, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Liam Delap has a role to play this Sunday against Leicester City. Manchester City have a tough couple of games coming up, and in order to get through them, they will need the support of players like the young Englishman.