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Borussia Dortmund have seen efforts to prise away a prized Manchester City youngster fall short, according to a report.

The pathway into Manchester City’s first team from their academy is often a difficult step to make. Indeed, amid their galaxy of stars, very few from their academy have made the great in recent years.

And while Phil Foden is the obvious example, others – such as Jadon Sancho – were forced to cut their teeth elsewhere.

Indeed, Sancho left City to join Dortmund in a move which very much allowed his career to take off. The Bundesliga giants have since raided City again to sign another young star in Jamie Bynoe-Gittens.

However, their hopes of a third raid on the Etihad fell short over the summer when they tried to prise away Liam Delap.

The son of former Stoke star, Rory Delap, has struck once in three senior appearances for City. But it’s his record at Premier League 2 level that has seen plenty of clubs circling.

Indeed, he struck 24 times in 20 games last season as City’s Under-23s win the Premier League 2 Division One title last season.

As such, City were understood to be willing to loan out Delap this season to further his match experience. We revealed back in April that five clubs had registered an interest in landing the teenage striker.

However, Football Insider also claims Borussia Dortmund took their interest in Delap one step further. Indeed, they report they lodged a £15m bid for the talented young striker.

As per the article, they see Delap as a ‘future Champions League star’ and rate him as one of England’s brightest young talents.

However, City had no hesitation in rejecting the offer and quickly tied Delap down to a new five-year deal.

That said. they could yet loan him out in the January window to help his game develop. However, it seems Pep Guardiola and Co very much see a long-term future for Delap at the Etihad Stadium.

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Guardiola purrs over City youngsters

Delap isn’t the only bright youngs star looking to make a name for himself at City.

Indeed, their bright young side included six City academy players making their debuts as Wycombe were beaten 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Conrad Egan-Riley, Finley Burns, Luke Mbete, Josh Wilson-Ebrand and Romeo Lavia started. And another, Cole Palmer, added the final flourish with a glorious sixth.

After the game, Guardiola was clearly impressed with what he’s seen.

“I just have to say thank you to the academy,” Guardiola said. “They all do an incredible job.

“You have the feeling that we have not just one or two potential players but many of them. The academy gives them the right values to become good professional players and they have the talent.

“We have the feeling that we can count on them…We saw it today a little bit and we know how good they are. As manager of the first team I can enjoy it, I can use them.”

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