Manchester City's mega-rich Sheikh wants to create a world-beating team of home-grown stars, according to files revealed today by the M.E.N. The papers, prepared by the club ahead of a public inquiry into its plans for a new top-flight academy and training ground, show that: City’s owners have set aside more than £170m for the project opposite the Etihad Stadium; Bosses have pledged a permanent home-grown presence in the first-team squad from 2027; Council chiefs believe east Manchester’s regeneration hopes rest on the club and there is no hope of transforming the area without it. Senior City figures were forced to set out the case for their ambitious academy plans after the council asked the government to approve a compulsory purchase order that would force businesses in the area to sell up to make way for the scheme, which features a 7,000-capacity arena, sixth form college, sports science institute and community sports facilities. Only two firms were blocking the project, which promises to create 250 jobs, but both struck 11th-hour deals with City. CPO papers show how the club began work on the Manchester City Football Academy – known internally as The World Class Project – within months of the 2008 takeover by Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group. Evidence prepared by MCFC board member Martin Edelman explains: "Delivery of the MCFA health and education facilities is driven by a heartfelt commitment by the club to become a world class football club, to nurture football and other talent in the community from which the club originally evolved and to contribute to the regeneration of east Manchester." It continues: "The owner’s ambition to develop a successful and sustainable club requires the prioritisation of youth development to ensure the club can attract and retain talented young players thereby increasing the squad’s proportion of ‘home grown’ talent." Documents assembled by Jon Stemp, the Blues’ chief infrastructure officer, reveal closer working with partner clubs in local, national and international ‘talent hot spots’ and set out a ‘measurable commitment to maintaining a percentage of the first team squad as home grown from 2027’. The CPO papers show how the club has been acquiring the land for the complex, in Openshaw West, since 2009. They have relocated three businesses and in one case, FW Singleton scrap metal dealers, constructed a new facility for the company. The final two firms to settle, OB Truck Services and New Life Windows, had formally objected on a number of grounds, including that the development did not fit in with the area. A letter from the club’s Abu Dhabi owners to town hall chiefs on March 14 confirmed the full £170m funding was in place to deliver the scheme. Eddie Smith, chief executive of regeneration company New East Manchester, says in his evidence: "Without the MCFC scheme, there is no foreseeable prospect of development on the Order Lands
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