Manchester City academy chief Mark Allen says manager Roberto Mancini believes in the club's youth players.

He has stepped up the first-team involvement of talented youngsters like Karim Rekik and Denis Suarez. He also took promising 16-year-old Portuguese midfielder Marcos Lopes and 17-year-old Cheadle-born George Evans to Austria for the pre-season training camp and to the Far East for the tour.

Allen told the Manchester Evening News: "The manager is more than happy to blood young players if he feels it's right for them and they are ready for it. He has a track record here of giving young players time, and Marcos and George are the latest recipients of that.

"Ultimately it is the manager's call in terms of where he sees them. From the comments we have got back, they are certainly not out of place in that environment, but we have to recognise that they are 16 and 17 and it is a huge learning curve."