City, from where he joined Manchester City's Academy in 2003, aged 13. A Football League committee later ordered Manchester City to pay Coventry £30,000 compensation, with further payments up to a maximum of £200,000 based upon appearances and international honours. The following year, he was the leading scorer and voted player of the tournament (the only other person to achieve this was Argentine footballer Carlos Tevez) as City won the Nike Cup, the world's largest under-15 tournament. At 16, he played for Manchester City Youth during their 2006 FA Youth Cup run. The youngest player in the team, he scored four goals en route to the final, and another two in the final, though they were insufficient to prevent a 3–2 aggregate defeat to Liverpool. That summer, he signed his first professional contract, which came into effect when he turned 17. Manchester City From the start of the 2006–07 season, Sturridge began to train with the City first team. A hat-trick in a reserve match was rewarded by a place on the substitutes' bench for the senior team's match with Reading in February 2007. He duly made his debut from the bench, replacing Georgios Samaras for the final quarter-hour. He made a second substitute appearance a month later, but then suffered a hip injury which sidelined him for the remainder of 2007. Sturridge scored his first goal for City on 27 January 2008 in an FA Cup match against Sheffield United, followed three days later by his first league goal on his full debut, against Derby County. However, first-team opportunities were quite sporadic, so Sturridge continued to play for the youth team in the FA Youth Cup. City again reached the final, with Sturridge the leading scorer in the competition. This time City won the final, with Sturridge scoring in the first leg. In the 2007–08 season, Sturridge became the only player ever to score in the Youth FA Cup, the FA Cup and the Premier League in the same season. Sturridge contributed in the 2008–09 season with 26 appearances and scoring 4 goals. On 28 December 2008, in a league match against Blackburn Rovers, City were trailing 2–0. Coming on as a 71st-minute substitute, Sturridge scored in the 88th minute of the match taking advantage of a header by André Ooijer. He also went on to assist Robinho's injury time goal. Manager Mark Hughes said that Sturridge was a