When the travelling Manchester City fans at Huddersfield sang the names of Yaya and Kolo Toure among their usual repertoire of songs for former players, they might not have expected to see another set of brothers step onto the pitch in Yorkshire not long after.
However, after Pep Guardiola’s side went 2-0 up against their League One hosts in the Carabao Cup, the manager turned to his bench and beckoned forward brothers Reigan and Jaden Heskey, who are the sons of ex-England striker Emile.
After being given their instructions from a bench which included Kolo Toure, now part of City’s backroom staff, and 10 years on from dad Emile’s last EFL Cup appearance, fans got to witness his sons making their first-team debuts for the club.
“Today, six players from the academy made the starting XI,” said Guardiola.
“Two more came on, the Heskey brothers. I think their father and mother will be so proud of their kids. That’s really cool.”
Reigan is described on the City website as a “tricky, clinical winger” and at 17 is the younger of the brothers, with Jaden two years older and seen as a “mature, hard-working” box-to-box midfielder.
Both are regulars in City’s academy teams, with Jaden often wearing the captain’s armband in the club’s Premier League 2 matches. In 2024, he scored as City beat Leeds 4-0 to lift the FA Youth Cup.
“They’re similar to me,” Heskey told the Mail, external in August. “They are both very athletic.
“The young one is very quick. The older one is a bit of a beast like I was.
“They’ve both got similar attributes.”
Against Huddersfield, Jaden got 14 minutes, replacing fellow academy graduate Nico O’Reilly, with Reigan coming on for Savinho shortly after.
Source: BBC
Discover more from Ghana News Express
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.