Man City Academy defender Harwood-Bellis signs contract extension

Taylor Harwood-Bellis has signed a new contract that will keep him at Manchester City until 2024.

The Academy defender, who turns 19 next month, has made six senior appearances to date for his boyhood club including both Carabao Cup matches this season.

Harwood-Bellis is seen as one of the most promising players from a pool of talent emerging at the club and was part of the U-18s that won the FA Youth Cup in November.

“It is a great moment to spend another four years at this club," he said. "It is huge for me and my family being City fans.

"It is an amazing feeling and something I didn’t hesitate to get done. [My family] were ecstatic when I told them the news that I would be extending my contract and will be staying here for longer.

"It was a no-brainer if I asked them what they wanted to do, they would just say sign it now! It is amazing.”

Harwood-Bellis has been regular at first-team training and he and fellow Academy centre-back Eric Garcia won praise from Pep Guardiola for his performance in a Carabao Cup victory over Oxford last year.

Garcia, however, has turned a down a contract offer and is expected to join Barcelona in January or at the end of the season.

That would move Stockport-born Harwood-Bellis up the pecking order although he still has to compete with Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Nathan Ake for a starting spot.

“There is no specific goals. I just know where I want to go and I keep that inside," he added.

"When it comes, then you can push onto the next one, so my goals are to stay in the first team and stay in Pep’s mind and stay there.

"If I keep working hard, I know my chance will come and when I get that chance I will take it because that is what I want to do.

"If you set your mind to it, it is going to happen. I have just got to keep working hard and stay humble.”

Fellow Academy players Liam Delap, Tommy Doyle, Cole Palmer and Felix Nmecha have all played for the first team this season and Harwood-Bellis says they are all working hard to break into the first team.

“To have not just team-mates but my mates I went to school with and being in the changing room with them has made a massive difference," he said.

"You can go in and see the familiar faces of your mates that you are still in contact with.

"You can see how close we all are and when we come to play in the EDS we are altogether, all want to win and the attitude doesn’t change.

"By training with your mates and even in the free time you get playing pool, or eating together, you have got that bit in common and still have a good relationship with them.

“The academy has been such a help with the way they treat you and they make you the person you are so you are ready.

"The football they play, it doesn’t change from the academy right up to the first-team.

"When I went up to the first-team, I knew I was technically good enough, it is just now I have got to get up to the speed both physically and mentally of how quick they play. The academy has helped so much with how I have progressed and how I have got to the first-team.”