Having competed at the top of the division throughout the season, Davies expects a number of squad to continue their development away from his squad in the coming months.
“We’ve had a younger squad than we have done in the last three or four years so it’s quite encouraging to strike that balance between winning and developing young talent. Overall, it’s been an encouraging season and a lot of the boys in the changing room are ready for their next steps,” he said.
“As with any squad, there are a range of players in there. Six or seven will be ready for loan while a few will be ready to step in to the first team arena and train with them on a daily basis and some will remain in the EDS setup and be competing with the younger ones coming up.”
Watch highlights of City’s recent draw with Arsenal below...
Southampton fielded several players with Premier League experience including Charlie Austin, Harrison Reed and Florin Gardos and Davies believes that can only help his players.
“I told them at half-time that it was a competent performance but against the better players they had out tonight, you can’t make those mistakes. We started off the second half in a similar vein by making those mistakes in our backline.
“There were some players out there with Premier League experience from the opposition and that’s great for our guys. To play against that was a real test and we welcome that. We had the character to come back in to the match and we played some nice football.”
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