I'm not saying there is or isn't a difference. I know absolutely nothing about this particular player. I've never seen him and I have no way of judging his prospects of breaking through.
What I'm saying is that City's young players that are unlikely to ever play for the first team serve the same basic purpose as the kids at the modern La Masia (where they get promoted, make a few appearances and get sold on) - to appreciate as assets in order to be sold later to fund win-now purchases. City has just taken that model a step further, by essentially pushing the operating costs of that process off the club's books (but not the owner's) in order to generate phantom profits for FFP purposes.
Should one of the kids break through, it's just a bonus.