Thomas Krucken is looking forward to introducing some new ideas as he takes over from Jason Wilcox as academy director at Manchester City.

When the German finally takes his seat this week after serving his notice at Stuttgart, he won't be the only one looking to make an impression. Krucken takes the most important job in the academy but three of the most senior roles under him have also changed since the summer with head of UK recruitment Stewart Thompson, head of coaching Stephen Torpey, and head of operations Charlotte O'Neill all moving on; Joe Shields left as head of recruitment last year, with Sam Fagbemi now 12 months into the role.

All have gone (or are going) to bigger and better things, a testament to the outstanding work they did in making City the best academy in the country. As well as bringing players through to the first team under Pep Guardiola, the Under-21s and Under-18s have won their leagues for the last three years in a row and there have been record sales of homegrown talent in successive summer transfer windows.

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The fact they have all been allowed to leave around the same time is also in keeping with the policy across the club of not keeping people who come with offers elsewhere that they would like to take up, just as Riyad Mahrez wasn't prevented from leaving this summer despite being under contract and Oscar Bobb was the only first-team prospect kept around to beef out the first team squad. City would probably point out that if they were that concerned with so many key departures, they wouldn't be allowing O'Neill to move within the company to become the new managing director of the women's team.

Nevertheless, however much experience there remains within the academy hierarchy the transition cannot be expected to be seamless. Guardiola is still dealing with the summer turnover in his squad and Under-23s boss Brian Barry-Murphy has a completely new group to deal with after all the departures in the latest window, to the point where it was decided there weren't any youngsters ready to help out a first-team injury crisis in the Carabao Cup with Micah Hamilton the only youngster to be included on the bench.

The academy is always more vulnerable to annual change than most given the playing squads are never the same, but losing so many staff integral to the success of recent years will be a major test for City's ambition to retain their position as one of the best in the business. As Krucken and others settle into their new roles at the top, they will know the scale of their challenge.