WE'VE had the Busby Babes and Fergie's Fleglings — now get ready for Mancini's Teenies.
Roberto Mancini's Carling Cup kids are being tipped to take the world by storm after starring in Manchester City's demolition of Wolves on Wednesday.
City's rivals were given a terrifying glimpse of what the future holds for them as highly-rated rookies Luca Scapuzzi, Abdul Razak, Stefan Savic, Karim Rekik and Denis Suarez helped the Premier League leaders book a quarter-final place with an emphatic 5-2 win at Molineux.
And midfielder Nigel de Jong believes the youngsters could ensure the blue half of Manchester remains at the top of English and European football for years to come.
The Dutch World Cup finalist said: "You have to give credit to the young guys who came on the pitch at Wolves.
"We've got a lot of young talent at the club. It is not only about buying players, it is also about mixing with the youth we saw at Wolves.
"These players can be really good. Obviously if you train amongst such a high level of players every day, you can keep improving and become better and better by the day.
"But they are still young and will progress as long as the gaffer gives them a couple of chances."
Mancini's Teenies' terrific display at Molineux highlighted the strength in depth the City manager has at his disposal.
The Italian named a completely different team to the one that smashed Manchester United 6-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday — but his rookies and reserves still came up trumps.
Montenegran defender Savic, 20, was strong at the back.
Ivorian Razak, 18, showed good feet in the middle of the park. And Italian striker Scapuzzi, 20, linked up well with Edin Dzeko in attack before being replaced by 16-year-old Dutch kid Rekik late on.
Fellow sub Suarez, 17, also lived up to his surname after coming on for Samir Nasri.
PROSPECT ... Dennis Suarez
De Jong said: "These are exciting times, not only for the senior players but the ones who have come from the youth and reserve teams.
"If they train with us during the week, it is an exciting time for the young kids.
"I've been 17 and 18, so I know how exciting those times are if you can play with the first-team players.
"They are hungry to play and that is what the Carling Cup is all about, to give the young lads an opportunity to play and show their qualities.
"You could see that at Wolves. If you saw how easy they blended in, you can only have great respect for them.
"Now it all depends on them. It's all about your own mentality, how far you want to go to reach the next level. You need sometimes a bit of luck with the situation you are in, that's obvious.
"But it's all about how far they want to push their bodies to the next level and to become senior players."
IMPRESSED ... Nigel de Jong
With their last-eight place in the Carling Cup now booked, FA Cup holders City are eyeing a return to Wembley in February.
De Jong said: "Winning the FA Cup as a group last year has only made us hungry for more success because the enjoyment we had after is something no one forgets.
"Every player in the squad wants that same feeling again.
"The Carling Cup, with all respect, is the smallest cup out there on the UK basis. But a prize is still a prize.
"You've got to start somewhere and we started great last season with winning the FA Cup and doing well in the Premier League — and now we are doing well in the Carling Cup. We just have to go for every prize. The Carling Cup is the shortest way to success."
City have now hit 21 goals in five games since the Carlos Tevez fiasco in Munich.
De Jong added: "Of course the team is an absolute joy to play in. I'm just as excited as everybody else.
"I'm not one who scores goals and I'm not scoring goals but I think that I am even more excited than the goalscorers themselves.
"It's just a matter of time before I will score my second goal for City.
"These are exciting times — the goals are divided as well among the midfield players as well as the attacking players so, if the group can maintain this, we will keep everybody happy as well.
"Everybody who plays football knows if you win every game by four or five goals, it's an enjoyment in itself.
"For us, if it is the Carling Cup or the FA Cup or whatever, it doesn't matter — it's just the same feeling."
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