Liverpool have swooped to snap up another City starlet.

Fourteen-year-old Callum Pilkington is poised to sign for the Anfield giants, following in the footsteps of Andre Wisdom, who joined them two years ago.

Pilkington is the latest in the line of promising talent to leave Valley Parade on deals with potentially lucrative long-term rewards for the Bantams.

Fabian Delph, Tom Cleverly, Ben Gordon and Danny Ward were all sold at a tender age to bigger clubs.

As with the others, it is understood that City will pocket an initial fee from Liverpool with further add-on payments as Pilkington progresses up the ladder.

Striker Pilkington has been with City since he was ten. Youth development officer Peter Horne said: “He’s always been bigger than the rest of the group. Callum’s a powerful and strong lad.

“He had a trial period early on at another Premier League club but because we’ve got a good relationship with the lads at Liverpool, they took a look and decided to sign him.

“There are no promises whether he’ll make it in the future but we wish him all the best.”

City have already collected around £800,000 from the rise of Aston Villa’s Delph, with the possibility of a further £200,000 to come once he fully recovers from a long-term knee injury.

Wisdom is likely to be offered his first pro contract by Liverpool, which should trigger another payment to his first club.

And they also received a pay-out when Ward joined Bolton from Leeds.

The 19-year-old, from Saltaire, is currently on loan at Swindon – and ready to star at Wembley next week in the League One play-off final against Millwall.

Ward, who left City for Elland Road when they went into administration in 2004, scored in both semi-final legs against Charlton and kept his nerve to slot home a penalty in the decisive shoot-out.

Horne admitted it is a frustration to see talent leaving as part of the youth department’s self-financing policy but he is confident they can keep churning out quality replacements.

He said: “It’s just testament to what we are trying to do here. I’ve been watching the style of football our boys are playing from under-15s down to 12s and it’s superb.

“We’ve got good players here and the coaching is exceptional. John Hendrie is doing a great job with the older groups.

“We recently played two top under-15 sides who are spending a fortune on recruitment compared to us. We beat one and drew with the other.

“We just do what we can. Every year we’re getting to the point where we are selling a young player to a big club.

“Some in the younger groups are being watched by top clubs as we speak. I won’t ever stand in the boys’ way. I know Callum’s dad is over the moon with the work we’ve done with him.”

* Striker Marc Richards, rumoured to be a City target, has agreed terms on a two-year deal to stay with Port Vale.