In Profile: Taylor Harwood-Bellis

The latest in the line of Manchester City’s ever-growing roster of Academy products, Stockport born Harwood-Bellis has been at the club since the age of six having come through the same Metro Junior League that produced Phil Foden.

His first taste of success at the Academy came when he made it to the FA Youth Cup final in 2019, forming a strong partnership with Barcelona and Spain international Eric García.

The reward for that cup run was a first team debut the following September, featuring for the duration during the 3-0 third round Carabao Cup win over Preston North End.

Harwood-Bellis’ trajectory continued with a Champions League debut just two months later, featuring as a substitute during the 4-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb in December, before a first senior goal followed in the third round of the FA Cup, during the 4-1 win against Port Vale.

A notable debut season finished with the defender going one-better than he did in 2019 by lifting the FA Youth Cup, capping off a whirlwind 12 months for the youngster.

His breakthrough had many clubs in the Football League making their interest heard, with Championship side Blackburn Rovers eventually acquiring his services for the second half of the 2020/21 season.

19 appearances under Tony Mowbray at Rovers preceded a season of two halves during the 2021/22 campaign, starting off with a move to Belgium and Vincent Kompany’s Anderlecht.

Harwood-Bellis, then 19, featured just shy of 20 times in the Belgian Pro League, registering two assists, as his experience of senior football continued to grow.

Alongside adding to his understanding of first team football, there was a furthering of his international experience; from captaining the England Under-17s at the 2019 European Championships to skippering the U21s during the 4-1 qualifying win over Andorra in March 2022.

A move back to the Championship came in January 2022, linking up with Michael O’Neill and becoming an ever-present at bet365 Stadium.

22 appearances on top of his 19 for Blackburn the season prior then made him an ideal commodity for second tier sides ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.

Back in came Kompany, who used his relationship with the defender to acquire his services at Burnley, where Harwood-Bellis once more became a stalwart.

35 appearances, one goal, two assists and a 101-point promotion winning season later, the defender continued his exploits at international level during the summer.

He played every minute as captain, bar the final group match, of England's historic Under-21 European Championships side, forming part of the defence that didn't concede once during the entire competition.

"No-one expected that we wouldn’t take a punch and not concede a goal," he reacted following the win in the final, "but as we’ve seen tonight we dug in, and we dug in against Portugal, and having that record is massive."

Following successes at club and international level, his stock is at an all-time high ahead of his move down south.