Pep Guardiola makes two bumper youth signings

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Bengaluru, June 11: The major functions around the football world might have come to a pause due to the coronavirus pandemic, but that has not stopped reigning Premier League champions continuing their investment in the youth structure.

City's wide scout network along with the assistance of Txiki Begiristain over the years have unveiled a number of prospects for the City youth team. The main motto is to capture the budding talents around the globe and hope for them to break into the first team over the next few seasons.

The trend has continued this Summer also as, despite the pandemic, Guardiola has already signed two new youth faces to the side.

One is promising FC Utrecht's 16-year-old goalkeeper Mikki van Sas and another one is, one off Brazil's hottest prospects, Yan Couto from Coritiba. Both the players surely have not been considered for the first-team role. But they are likely to play a major part in the reserve side as they adapt to a new life in England.

Here are a couple of things you need to know about these two players.

Yan Couto

Couto joined the Coritiba academy at the age of 10 and slowly has risen up the ranks to the senior side. He has appeared only two times for the senior team. The 18-year-old is a right-back who made the headlines through his impressive performance in last year's U17 World Cup, where Brazil clinched the title.

He played in five of the side's seven games. Despite being a right fullback he created the most chances among all the defender's, 10 in the tournament and even assisted one goal in their 2-1 win over Mexico in the final. He also intercepted the ball 33 times across five games. His playing style has already been compared with Dani Alves. He has also been shortlisted in The Guardian’s Next Generation 2019 list.

Mikki van Sas

The Dutch keeper was contracted to Utrecht till 2022 but City's big call made him change his side. The youngster has been a regular in the Dutch U-17 side and has kept eight clean sheets in 18 league appearances this season. He also has been a regular in the youth set up in national colours.

He has played a total of six times for the Netherlands at Under-15 and Under-16 levels. The Utrecht academy earlier produced keepers like Michel Vorm and Hans van Breukelen. City apparently beat the likes of Ajax, Barcelona, Manchester United for his signature which speaks the volume of his talent.