The European competition starts this week and mirrors the Champions League - although youth teams play the first six matches of their senior side’s schedule rather than the entire eight.
This will see City Under-19s open our campaign with a meeting with Inter at the Joie Stadium before fixtures with Slovan Bratislava, Sparta Prague, Sporting CP, Feyenoord and Juventus in the league phase.
Wilkinson’s side lock horns with the Italian outfit on Wednesday 18 September at 15:00 (UK), with the match available to watch on CITY+.
And he believes the UEFA Youth League provides perfect tests for his developing squad.
“[I’m] very excited,” he declared
“It’s one of the most important competitions we come across in youth football.
“The standard of the competition is as good as you get. For us to test ourselves in that environment is exactly what we want for the players and something we can’t wait to get our teeth into.
“[The new format] brings new challenges. In the old format you get to play everyone twice so you find out a little more about the opposition certainly by the time you’ve played them a second time around.
“There’s a much more understanding of what the opposition are about. This format, six isolated games is certainly more interesting in terms of more experiences and different opposition.
“From a coaching perspective you don’t have that full back of playing them two weeks or a month ago and having that real clear understanding of what the opposition will try to do.
“I think it’ll be really exciting for the players, we have six fantastic games against some top European sides so it’s exactly what we want for the players.”
Watch Wilkinson’s full Youth League preview in the video player above!
