Goalkeeper True Grant on life at Manchester City, Buxton and being a chip off the old block

Both legends in their own right, of course, and both having in common the fact that True Grant is one of the goalkeepers they face up to on the training ground.

Grant, 18, is currently on loan at Buxton from Manchester City. It’s not a well-trodden path, but it’s one that the teenager has taken in order to gain valuable first team experience in men’s football whilst also being able to train full-time across both clubs.

Grant is the son of former Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday and Burnley goalkeeper Lee Grant, and it’s through his dad’s contacts that the move first came about.

"My dad was at Burnley with Jon Stewart, who is Buxton’s goalkeeping coach, and he was also at Derby with Pablo Mills, Buxton’s assistant manager,” said Grant junior.

"We’d decided in the summer that a loan move would be good for me and when he spoke to those guys and to John McGrath [Buxton manager] they were really willing to take me and it went from there.

"It’s been a good experience so far. We’re perhaps not where we want to be in the league but it’s still early days and I’m enjoying it.”

Grant also added that playing men’s football is a completely different experience to the academy football he’s been used to.

He said: “When you’re at an academy, you have tournaments and things like that, and you’re pretty much playing for your own development and in the hope you’ll eventually get the chance in the first team, but nothing compares to playing for three points and the feeling you get when you achieve that.

"It means a lot more to players than it does at academy level.

"There’s the physical aspect too, in that men’s football is obviously a lot more brutal than academy football, so I’ve had to adapt to that as well.”

Buxton moved to a full-time model during the summer, which also meant almost an entirely new squad being assembled by manager John McGrath, himself only appointed in May.

Grant, however, only trains with Buxton three days a week, the rest of his time spent back at Manchester City working alongside a combination of fellow academy players and the international superstars that adorn the City squad.

Among those working with him at City is Scott Carson, another who played alongside Lee Grant whilst at Derby and who True describes as a ‘father figure’.

He said: “It’s good to experience both sides of it. I’ll usually train with the first-team the day after a game, when the keeper who played the day before is rested and they need a goalkeeper to help out.

"I don’t come into direct contact with the guys like Ederson or Ariel Ortega too often, but even training next to them means I can learn so much about what it takes to be at the top, just in terms of how they carry themselves and their approach to everything.”

Grant’s arrival in Manchester coincided with that of his dad, who joined Manchester United in 2018, taking his family with him from Derby where True had been part of the academy at Derby County.

He had trials with both City and United, his parents leaving it up to True himself as to where he’d then choose to go.

He said: “Obviously they’re both huge clubs so they were happy for me to choose either. I’d been a City fan growing up though, which maybe made the decision that bit easier, so that’s where I opted to go.

"Since then I’ve only improved – it’s the best academy in England by some way and probably the best in the world and I can’t improve myself anywhere better than at City.”

Part of the elite development squad, Grant was part of City’s FA Youth Cup-winning side last season and also appeared on the bench for the first team’s Champions League tie with Red Star Belgrade.

His dad is now a striker’s coach at Ipswich Town, with True saying: “He can tell strikers exactly what keepers don’t like!”

He watches his son’s games and advises as much as possible, the two seeing each other when Lee gets a break from his commitments in Suffolk.

True said: “He can’t help himself sometimes in terms of advice, but there aren’t too many better people to take advice from than someone who’s played at the top level, and I like getting his view on things.”

True now hopes that as well as helping Buxton, he can continue to develop his talent at City too.

He said: “I’m really enjoying it at Buxton. I have to focus on playing well here as that will help both the club and my own future, then we’ll see where things go after that.”