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While Manchester City are currently strapped with a laundry list of first-team players rumoured to be leaving the club this summer, they could also be set to lose one of their most important staff members.
Reports emerged last week that Southampton were eyeing a swoop for Manchester City youth scouting ‘guru’ Joe Shields, with the South Coast club keen on making the 35-year-old their head of first team recruitment - a significantly upgraded role.
Shields has been widely lauded for playing an instrumental role in the Etihad club’s recent youth academy successes.
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Not only have the City youth teams thrived on the pitch, doing a clean sweep of the trophies at all age levels this past campaign, but the set-up has been a fantastic source of revenue for the club’s first team transfer business.
Joe Shields is widely credited for the successful scouting of Jadon Sancho in particular, who - while not necessarily generating astronomical revenue for City - went on to become one of the most expensive footballers of all-time.
Other recruits credited to Shields' name include the likes of Romeo Lavia and Liam Delap - both of whom earned senior first-team debuts under Pep Guardiola during their breakthrough at Manchester City.
According to the Daily Mail’s Sami Mokbel, Southampton are very close to appointing Shields to his new role, citing the idea the opportunity was a major attraction for the Manchester City scout.
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As per the report, City have been able to fend off major interest in Shields from Premier League rivals in past years, with Arsenal and Chelsea both said to have attempted to bring Shields on board.
The Premier League champions are said to be ‘desperate’ to keep Shields at the club, and while his move to the St. Mary’s has not yet been completed, the growing feeling around the situation is that it will be finalised in the coming days or weeks.
With the apparent inevitability of losing their scouting guru, City will already be focused on what comes next in the department.
It is reported that if Shields, whose official title is ‘head of academy recruitment and talent management’, does depart then the Etihad hierarchy will look to candidates already at the club to fill the role.
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It appears next man up for the position is talent-spotter Sam Fagbemi, who has also played a key role in the recruitment of City’s current group of talented youngsters like Liam Delap, Cole Palmer and Luke Mbete.
As a result, Fagbemi has attracted interest from fellow Premier League clubs such as Arsenal and Newcastle United in recent years.
However, the hope will be that an upgraded role and the chance to fill the big shoes left behind by Joe Shields could keep Fagbemi around to continue his fantastic scouting for the club.
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For Shields, he could become the second move from Manchester City to Southampton in less than a week.
Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu completed a permanent transfer from the Etihad Stadium in a deal understood to be worth an initial £10 million.
Interestingly, Bazunu is another player often believed to have been scouted by Joe Shields, and the pair could now be reunited sooner rather than later.
Elsewhere, Manchester City and the City Football Group are closing in on the double purchase of Italian side Palermo and Brazilian club Bahia - taking their portfolio of global football teams to 12.
Featured Image Credit: REUTERS / AlamyTopics: Manchester City, Manchester City Transfer News & Rumours, Transfers, Southampton, Premier League, Football