Man City, Man Utd join four-club Premier League race for Swansea teenagers

Manchester City and Manchester United are no strangers when it comes to competing for the signatures of talented youngsters – and the cross-city rivals are reportedly set to butt heads again in the hunt for two Swansea City prospects.

16-year-old central midfielder Harlan Perry will be eligible to sign his first professional contract once he turns 17 next month, and his agent appears to have tipped off the Mirror that he is set to hold meetings to both City and United ahead of making a decision about his future.

So too is 17-year-old centre-back Brogan Popham, who shares the distinction of being a Welsh youth international as well as having one of the most mid-2000s ‘trendy’ first names it’s possible for a Gen-Zer to have.

Popham is yet to agree to a professional contract at Swansea, who would rake in a training compensation fee for either player should they make a move. Arsenal and Tottenham are also credited as being interested, but ‘nowhere near’ as keenly as City or United.

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City’s academy has spat out a raft of players who have either gone on to play for the first team, sold for profit or both, including Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Michael Olise, Rico Lewis, Brahim Diaz, Morgan Rogers, Liam Delap and Jadon Sancho.

United’s equivalent output has included current first-teamers Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho, but the rest are comparatively more likely to end up at Everton than at the likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

The club are said to be determined to be more competitive with their academy production line since the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS as minority owners earlier this year. United shuffled things around over the summer and have set about trying to sign a new set of youngsters to fill out their ranks.

Former Arsenal starlet Chido Obi-Martin was confirmed this week to have completed a move to United after leaving the Gunners in the summer, with United said to have held off rival interest from Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

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