Ben Barclay knew he would struggle to make it at Manchester City.

So he came south to Albion and, at the age of 21, is celebrating his first team debut.

Events conspired to give Barclay his opportunity against Southampton in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

Even so, the central defender's prospects are much brighter at the Amex than they would have been with the Premier League champions at the Etihad, with their huge spending power and galaxy of world stars.

Mancunian Barclay said: "I was there from seven until 16. In my squad there was Tosin Adarabioyo, who has gone on loan to West Brom, David Brooks who has signed for Bournemouth.

"I am good pals with him, he is doing really well.

"Everyone has left now and gone on loan and playing in the Championship.

"At the time I saw it coming. The club moved on from me then. I feel I've developed well over my years at Brighton."

The Argus: Barclay (above) has worked his way through the age groups at Albion to become a regular for the under-23s.

Defensive partner Ben White, who impressed on loan at Newport County last season, is ahead of Barclay in the pecking order but White was ruled out by an injury he picked up in last week's draw for Simon Rusk's side at Arsenal.

"I was playing with Ben last Monday at the Emirates when he came off," Barclay said. "I think at first he thought it was a bit of a nasty knee injury. He had a scan in the week and it turned out it wasn't too bad. That's obviously good news for him. It gave me an opportunity, which is good.

"The team was confirmed on Monday in training. I travelled up to Anfield at the weekend and just missed out on the bench, so I knew I was in and around it and there were going to be some changes, so I knew I might get on the bench or a few minutes."

The possibility of a few minutes from the bench turned into 90 from the start for Barclay alongside versatile Brazilian Bernardo.

With Lewis Dunk (ankle) and Bruno (hamstring sidelined), manager Chris Hughton took no risks with current first choice pairing Shane Duffy and Leon Balogun, saving them both for Fulham's visit on Saturday.

That left Barclay and Bernardo (below) to cope with Southampton's experienced Italian striker Manolo Gabbiadini for most of the evening.

The Argus: Barclay said: "I remember watching him at Wembley against United in the (2017) League Cup final when he first signed and I thought he as a good player, would be tricky.

"When you play against him you realise his movement is even better than when you see him on TV.

"It was massive for me. I'll take so much from the game, just staying with his runs in the box. They are much cleverer."

After keeping Gabbiadini off the scoresheet, Barclay's big night was ruined by substitute Charlie Austin heading Southampton into this evening's third round draw in the closing stages.

"It does (ruin it)," Barclay said. "If it's your debut, whether you have a good game or not, if you concede at the death it's going to be frustrating."

Barclay, nevertheless, emerged with credit, as did Bernardo following the multi-lingual summer signing's shaky debut in the full-back positions in Albion's defeat at Watford on the opening day of the season.

"We did some 11 v 11 in pre-season when some boys dropped out," Barclay said. "He did a bit of a role there then. Obviously it's a bit foreign to him (centre-half) but I thought he did well as well.

"He speaks a few different languages, German, Brazilian, English."

The Argus: Barclay's Lancastrian tone is still in tact. He could now face his old club back in the under-23s at Crawley tomorrow night, together with fellow debutants against Southampton Will Collar (above) and Viktor Gyokeres.

"I came from City when I was about 16, so obviously playing against them on Friday would be good," Barclay said.

"Seeing us step up and hold our own, if we go back down in the group we can take our experience from that and give everyone else a bit of confidence in our season."

Beyond that, Barclay could find himself following a similar path to White.

He said: "I think it depends how close I am to the first team squad. If I'm not quite there, maybe a loan in January might be good.

"For me and Will it was our senior debuts in any league. we've not been out on loan."