Devante Cole - The Manchester City youngster with the biggest challenge in football

Manchester City youngster Devante Cole not only has to try and break into the club's first team squad, but he also has to live up to the goalscoring feats of his father Andy.

Blackpool midfielder Thomas Ince has been creating all sorts of headlines for his scintillating performances in the Championship, and was yesterday linked with signing for Manchester United.

It is quite a rise for the youngster who was left Liverpool after realising there would be limited first team opportunities under Kenny Dalglish. Most notably, he is doing what so many famous footballing sons fail to do, step out of his father's shadow.

There have been many down the years, Dalglish's son himself Paul Dalglish, Teddy Sheringham's son Charlie, and even Johan Cruyff's son Jordi who played briefly with Manchester United.

City once had Peter Schmeichel's goalkeeping son Kasper on their books, and last season Roberto Mancini released his son Andrea, who has signed on with Spanish side Real Valladolid. Daniel Sturridge's uncle Dean was also a Premier League regular with Derby County among others.

The club do still have one would-be famous second-generation star on their books, Devante Cole. But the youngster has quite a challenge ahead of him.

His father Andy Cole is a five time Premier League winner, Champions League winner, and two time FA Cup winner, all achieved with City's rivals Manchester United.

Devante Cole is currently 17, and like his dad, is a striker. He has been on City's books since the age of eight, and is currently part of the club's NextGen Series squad.

He is progressing well, and has even played for the club's under-21 side this season. He is an England youth international, previously scoring two in five for the under-16s, and three in nine for the under-17s.

One of his main assets is his pace, he previously represented his county as a sprinter, but he has finishing ability too, as seen by his strike rate and long distance strike scored for the national under-17 side.

So what are his chances of breaking into the City side soon? At present, slim to none, which makes his path to footballing success a huge challenge. City are blessed with world class strikers, and have John Guidetti already waiting in reserve.

Out of the League Cup, Roberto Mancini is unlikely to be blooding any more young talent this season, with Denis Suarez and Abdul Razak the closest to the first team. This season is far too soon for him to be in contention, but if he can show good signs at youth team level and in the NextGen Series it will help his cause for the future.

For all his raw ability, breaking through at City is a mammoth task, and emulating his father's success makes it doubly so. Pressure, what pressure?

Does Cole have a chance at City?

Dan Coombs

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Dan Coombs is a writer who is keen to embrace the internet revolution. He first started writing for us in June 2011 and commenced his new role as Sports Editor in February 2012.

As a trained journalist he has met famous faces from Mr T to Boris Johnson. He once featured in an England World Cup music video too, but it did not make the charts.

He grew up wanting to be a Formula 1 driver, but it looks like this dream has passed him by. Instead, he hopes you enjoy reading his writing on our site, as we seek to debate the day's sporting hot topics.