Pearson clearly has a longer-term plan in place, there's a real structure behind the scenes (medical team, scouting, coaching) and you can see the genesis of a concerted effort to bring the youngsters through.
But I think we need to be realistic - City are not a 'rich' club any more, not compared to the parachute clubs. We will sell this summer - it could be all 3 of HNM, Scott and Semenyo. Likewise, as @Davefevs and others have said, Kalas and Bentley may be off. That won't generate huge fees, but should release wages.
The key is what is the plan for using that money, or whatever proportion of it is made available? I think more signings like Atkinson and Tanner make sense. There's little risk there. And with many clubs in lower divisions cash-strapped still due to COVID and so forth, there have to be opportunities to pick up some decent players. Certainly, the experiment with signing tried and trusted ex-Leicester stalwarts has failed - none of King, Simpson and co have really made an impact. Back to the 4 pillars? (Or was it 5?)