Manchester City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak has told fans not to expect a raft of academy graduates to reach the first team.
Khaldoon had previously insisted City would make room for their most promising emerging talent from their much-heralded academy. But he insists City they must be realistic about their expectations.
“This is the important thing we have to emphasise here," he said. “When you invest in an academy like the one we've invested in - obviously the aspiration is to produce players for Manchester City for the first team.
“But at the end of the day there are going to be many players coming out of that system - not every one is going to make it.
“The aspiration is that you will be producing players at a certain quality that even if they do not make it at Manchester City they are going to make it at a high level in different leagues within Europe and within the world and they will be able to bring in an attractive investment return to continue to support the development of the academy and the first team."
Khaldoon now accepts players may need to go elsewhere to fully develop and has not ruled out the prospect buying them back at a later date.
"Today there are points where you are better off selling a player than continuously loaning them out. That produces a better outcome for both the player and the club.
“At the same time being intelligent about how we structure these transactions when we are selling players. We have a clear buy back if the player performs to a certain level and becomes suitable for Manchester City. So we are a lot more intelligent in how we structure and how we buy now and sell."